Notes on Song of Songs By Dr. Nancy Moelk Thus, I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment. Song of Songs 8:10b (NIV) Song of songs has been loved by Christians through the ages. Generation after generation has recognized the mystical nature of this love poem. Even if we don’t totally understand it, reciting the verses and meditating upon them can move us into a tactile experience of God’s presence. Its content is not meant to cater to our intellect or Western modes of linear thinking. In the late 1990’s I was visiting a friend and found a book about worship called “Glory” by Ruth Heflin Ward. Something she said caught my attention and started me on a journey of experiencing the Song of Songs over the next decade. The Greek idea of knowing is acquiring information where the Hebrew concept of knowing is to become one with something so that you are no longer the same. Ruth suggested ignoring the designations of “Beloved” and “Lover” which are marked in most translations. She encouraged letting all the declarations of love be applicable to both God saying it to us and us saying it back to Him. The first time I experienced this reciprocity was concerning verse 8:10b (NIV). “Thus, I have become in his eyes like one bringing contentment.” I kept hearing that verse over and over in my head. Finally, I asked God to show me what it meant. I realized He was speaking to my deepest heart about His view of me: I bring Him contentment. What a concept! I didn’t really understand it fully until my first grandchild was born in 2006.   The love I felt for Tara Faith Ireland, my first grandchild, was beyond my understanding. I happily held her in my arms, just gazing at her. I experienced joy and contentment that was inexplicable. One day, as I was enjoying looking at Tara while she was doing absolutely nothing, I clearly heard God whispering over my shoulder, “This is how I feel about you!” Like all infants, Tara was unproductive, helpless and needy.  But that in no way deterred my intense fondness for her. I was simply happy, content, satisfied—because she was alive—no other purpose or reason was necessary. I delighted in her every breath and enjoyed the smallest accomplishments. She could offer me nothing. And I didn’t need her to do anything. I surrendered myself to this startling picture of how God viewed me, felt about me, experienced me. It humbled me and honored me. It made me fall in love with Him even more. This unconditional love of God for me needs to conquer my entire soul. A process which will go on until I see Him face-to-face in eternity. The fact that I bringHim contentment is a parental type of love. As a child we are meant to be the one who receives most of the time in a relationship with our parent. A more mature love, like that of a romantic relationship introduces a willingness to give oneself and sacrifice. We become open to allowing the love of our life to fill in the gaps of where we are needy or wanting. Years later, in February 2011, Gary called to say his job had been terminated. Several years before, he had lost another job and was unemployed for almost a year. The bad memories and difficulties of that year rose within me. “Not again,” I mumbled. I was driving in my car and suddenly felt the presence of the Lord with me. I heard Him say, “Can you smile at me? I am still with you. Would you allow me in this moment to bring you contentment?” Could I love Him without conditions? Could I be content even if the events of life swept the opposite way than what I wanted? If my husband wasn’t the one they kept in the company buyout? If I or my loved one wasn’t healed? If this or that problem wasn’t resolved to my satisfaction? Could I venture to throw my lot in with Him without playing it safe and guarding my own self-interest? Could I trust in Him will all my heart and not lean to my own understanding? These questions and the answers of my heart will continue going forward. As I keep surrendering to the love between us, even these questions will get lost in an eternal love affair where the ending of the story never comes but is always known to be good. So, Song of Songs is a treasure trove of such verses which we can use back and forth with our Divine Lover/Parent/Spouse. If we free this mystical love poem from the confines of exegesis and linear western interpretation, we can engage its Author in a wonderous living dialogue. O, Holy Spirit, come and teach this love to my heart. Let me know the Celestial Lover as His Beloved and let me become, with Your help, a lover of the One who is my Beloved. Let me come to offer each verse from the innermost being of myself and to receive each verse from the Depths of His Heart. *******   “Dark am I, but lovely…” Song of Songs 1:5 Early on in my meditation of Song of Songs, I would avoid verses and passages like this one. It seemed like an admission of “wrongness”. “My own vineyard I have neglected.” (1:6) My own filter of shame highlighted the flaws, the darkness of my soul, the mistakes and poor choices. Surely with all these flaws, I could not still be “lovely.” This shame filter in me came from a “performance” orientation. My worth rested on a barometer of “rightness” or success. Any suggestion highlighting my flaws produced a feeling of unease at best and a piercing shame at worst. Both of these were often accompanied by an automatic defensive attitude. Could I actually be lovely at the same time I was so “wrong”? God had to teach me that perfectionism and idealism are the twin mothers of misery. They set us up for constant disappointment, dissatisfaction, anxiety and ultimately, over the long haul, for bitterness. I had to be wooed out of my damming perspective and into His. How, O Lord, can you get past my flaws to see me as lovely? Obviously, there was a serious discrepancy between my standards and His. Yes, Jesus died for my sins. But does that absolve me of my responsibility to look like someone who deserved such intervention? His extreme act of sacrifice at the cross would, at times, leave me feeling further estranged. My lack of devotion and commitment in response to His love left me wanting to hide. Finally, I gave up my quest to be enough. Good enough. Strong enough. Pure enough. Loving enough. I can never be Him. But I can welcome all the gift of Himself He wished to give me in Union with Him. He has enough goodness, strength, purity, love, etc. to share with me. And when I don’t do well in receiving it or using it, He still wants to be with me! I had to let go of my expectation of saving myself by good works and internal excellence. Whether we see ourselves as flawed on the inside or on the outside, He is comfortable with us as we are. We may look unusual, we may be rough or coarse, unpolished. We may not fit the idea of what others think we should be. But He knows us and sees us and welcomes us to come as we are. I have counseled Christians for close to 30 years. Rarely do I meet one who seems to have embraced even remotely how God joys over them, even though they are flawed. Take a deep breath and repeat after me, “I am flawed by lovely.” I raised four children and have changed over a thousand diapers. Never once did I confuse the precious, lovely baby with the mess in the diaper. When He looks at us, He sees His creation and a deep resounding Voice echoes from with Him, “You are good.” The bottom line is that we are not in charge of who loves us (true love) and how. As soon as we try to manipulate others to love us by our own performance, we have created an environment where we can never receive true love. If we have “been forced to work in the vineyards” of relationships, it is time to stop considering ourselves in light of what we can earn. Love comes to us as an unprovoked gift. We surrender to love. We open our hearts to the free will sacrifice of self  offered by another. ******* How right they are to adore you! Song of Songs 1:4c Here on earth, we can’t easily see ourselves or anything else as it truly is. We especially can’t see God as He is. The Bible provides us with accounts of people, angels, creatures and beings who see Him in much closer proximity than us. We are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses—saints who have lived here on earth, died to this world, and now behold God in His unveiled majesty. Angels behold the face of God. All of heaven is very near to us but in another dimension. The four living creatures mentioned in the Revelation of John, Chapter 4 are caught up in His glory, crying, “Holy, holy, holy.” They cried out to John, and they still cry out to us, “Come up here!”. The eyes that cover their bodies have spent eons of untold gazing at the One who sits on the throne. Let us ask to look into their eyes so we can see the beauty and majesty and wonder of our God. The heavenly host are part of the King’s entourage. They glitter and shine with His blinding brightness. When we connect with God’s presence (which is everywhere) it is a matter of connecting with what is already present around u and in us. We seek and we find the treasure of His Essence if we keep asking, seeking and knocking for it. Because the Kingdom of God is within us, heaven and earth are meant to co-exist and mingle within us. Each one of us is a portal of heaven. Whether you know it or not, you have living waters flowing from deep within your being. Are you willing to have Jesus open up all the gateways within you so you leak all over your life? Or are you dammed up by trauma, denial, negative emotions and fears? Prepare the way of the Lord, a highway in the desert for our God. The Kingdom of God has been put within us by the Holy Spirit. Now He wants to express Himself through us into every aspect of our earthy existence. I have read the Bible for over 40 years. I used to memorize verses about the nature and character of God. But now, when I think about what He is like, it leads me into an encounter with a Person. I become captivated by His kindness, beauty, goodness, mercy, patience, justice, majesty, holiness, etc. How right they are to adore you!! Ask that you would come and know Him as He truly is. I know I had so many misconceptions about Him and surely still do. I believed He was like my parents, or like me, or like other authority figures. Abusive, self-serving, petty, incompetent. Getting those false beliefs out in the open took time and was painful, at times. But waiting at the end of every lie renounced is the One who rightly is adored. Be washed in His nature and let every pore of your being soak up His perfection. “But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” ******* Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. Song of Songs 1:1a   What an invitation! There is a sweet surrender here to God desiring us and enjoying us and wanting to lavish His love upon us. The King, in His excellence and beauty and power is captured by the peasant girl! This verse never fails to lift me right into God’s presence. It is a daring invitation to a person of no rank or nobility into the intimate space of the King of Kings. With this I throw away my shame and self-consciousness at being “inappropriate” in any way. I come boldly before the throne of grace, based on His love for me which has been sealed in blood. I won’t resist His decision to focus His great affection on me. “Let him kiss me. . .” I no sooner say these words and the warmth and weight of His presence comes upon me. I start to feel His presence kissing my cells with His glory—the aura of His Essence. For many years I was a Christian who never felt His presence. After my initial moments of repentance, it was a dry, dry faith walk. Often the Christian who never feels the manifest Presence of God may have beliefs that demote feelings and the imagination as stepchildren of the soul. They view these aspects of their personality with disdain or suspicion. God has an imagination. For example, He thought up each one of use, a unique person in a sea of billions. I was such an  “anti-feeling” Christian: My stance was that Jesus fixed me at salvation, by the “complete” work of the cross. Now it was up to me to walk out of that victory and change the world! I gutted out seven years in the mission field with that theology. My last year in Morocco, I had a nervous breakdown and spent three years heavily medicated and hopeless. Desperation is a great persuader. It helped me to become open to considering I may have had a few faulty expectations about myself and about God. The complete work of the cross is from God’s perspective. We never have to earn anything from Him. The bill is paid in full. And yet the process of our becoming yielded to His life by the Holy Spirit within us is a life long journey. Letting Him know the inner most parts of us is good. We don’t want to engage in missions, ministry, and others works only to have Him say to us, “I never knew you. Depart from me.” So, let Him kiss me and welcome me, all of me, into His Essence. Say “yes” to the Divine Invitation. ******* Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel, Song of Songs 8:5-7   Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? We lived in Marrakech, Morocco near the edge of the Sahara desert for three years. During those years, there was a drought, and it only rained three times. It brought the desert even closer to us. The desert is a place of barrenness that opens the possibility of raw truth to emerge without distractions, without cloudy vision. We can pass through other types of deserts: deserts of depression, poverty, loneliness, isolation, bitterness, physical pain, trauma, rejection, hopelessness, etc. Deserts leave you without the usual resources for “making things right.” Scarcity, sparseness, life on the edge: survival is questionable. The desert strips you down to the bare essentials. Just me and what I carry: outside provisions are basically non-existent. The desert is a place of focus. A stillness and lack of “status quo” present an environment where transformation can take place. I become naked in the desert. My own resources become undone. And that’s when I am ready to meet my lover. And, oh, what a lover He is. His experience in the desert is quite different than mine. Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and incense made from all the spices of the merchant? Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel,   He is in the desert too, but He is equipped to the max. If you read the entire passage of Chapter 4:6-10, you find He carries provision, comfort, luxury, romance, beauty, protection and more. He is married to us and comes rejoicing, ready for a mystical union in the desert. The combination of my nakedness in the desert and His bountiful Presence creates a perfect match which is truly like what happens when it rains in the desert and all the dry seeds of its true potential spring into life and fruitfulness. Like the desert transformed into an unrecognizable garden by the gush of waters, we become different by our encounter with Him. To the point where others say in wonder, “Who is this coming up from the desert leaning on her lover? I don’t know who she is? I have never seen her before! She doesn’t look like the person I used to know.” ******* Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires. Song of Songs 2:7 and 8:4 God is interested in engaging us in a relationship with Him that involves three different roles. Child to parent, lover to beloved and spouse to spouse. After our adoption into His family, we need extensive “reprogramming” to learn what His parenting is like. Over time, our hidden, false beliefs about Him, ourselves and others are brought to the surface and replaced by truth implanted by love. Though we continue to grow in knowing His unconditional love as His child, at some point we become His fiancé. Now more is expected of us and we are lured away from other “loves” and asked to dedicate ourselves to Him above all else. As we pursue this more mature relationship with God, we are eventually made to be His spouse. Our union becomes a source of fruitfulness and together we create a culture throughout all our “territory” that reflects the Kingdom of God. The one simple key to this ongoing journey with God is this: it has to be real. Our hearts must be available for this journey. Talk is cheap. Bible study can be a “head fest”. Church attendance, tithing, even evangelical and social service can be perfunctory acts done to establish self-esteem. God is searching for the desire of our hearts. He has poured His own desire out to the point of death. That is how much He longed to be with us forever. Now He looks for our response. The child is meant to be a little receiver: happy, safe and un-self-conscious about taking and taking from the loving parent. The child, open to relationship and humble, accepts that he/she is vulnerable, needy, unproductive and greatly in need of training. She learns and grows through relationship. The parent mirrors the child’s reflection back to her. She begins to see herself and her world through His eyes. This is the soil, sun and water, that nourishes the tree and gives it a chance to eventually bear good fruit. At some point, the tree is ready for pruning and the winter season. Chill hours (below freezing) are needed during winter to bring tasty fruit in the spring. Pruning forces resources to be directed to certain areas of focus and prevents a watering down of effectiveness. As fruit grows, it will one day be available to be offered to another. The heart begins to desire to focus on someone other than ourselves. In fact, increasingly, there is a movement toward wanting to give away ourselves to another. At first it may be in selfish pursuit of gratifying our own needs and wants, but true love eventually shows itself in the overwhelming desire for the happiness, fulfillment and pleasure in our beloved. The fiancé is learning about love and how to give herself to another. Gradually she grows in unconditional love and union with the Ultimate Lover of the Universe. The spousal stage has begun. We can soon have a grand harvest where the Kingdom of God is increasingly taking over all that we touch or are involved in. His kingdom culture permeates our earthy household: our families, our work, our community, etc.  Our territory becomes His territory. This quote from Richard Rohr: Divine Lover: “Where did your heart go? When did you lose track of your longings so that they no longer walk together with your steps? Human Lover: “I didn’t know I lost my heart. I just kept stumbling forward. But I felt strangely empty.” Divine Lover: “We must go find your heart together. You’re right. It is empty to live without deep connection to it.” Human Lover: “I’m afraid.” Divine Lover: “Fear not, I am with you.” Human Lover: “Help me go there. I have lost my way.” Divine Lover: “Show me where you trusted long ago, where you hoped, where you dared to love.” Human Lover: “I have forgotten the faces and places but now I remember the pain and the bitter taste in my mouth.” Divine Lover: “You showed your face to those who could not see you. You bared your heart, and no one embraced you.” Human Lover: “Do you, my love, know such pain of rejection?” Divine Lover: “I know this well. Come and own it with me and we will walk together to a new place. My face will see you and my bared heart will surround yours. And we will be one.” Human Lover: “You have made my worst deserts like a well-watered garden.” ******* My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Song of Songs 2:10-11 No matter where I am in life, He comes and meets me there. In sin, in pleasure, in hiding, in error, lost, confused or broken. He seeks me out with great celestial energy. He often comes to me as my life. He pursues me, into every area of my being. He comes knocking on my door. All of me is of interest to Him. “MINE” He says. “Arise.” Wherever I am, He bids me to leave that place with Him and move one. Any pain from relinquishment is overshadowed by the wealth and adventure of what is ahead. I am leaving something behind I can’t keep in order to gain something I will never lose. Higher up and further in! Never alone. Our Divine Companion invites us, those who are flawed and inappropriate but lovely. He calls us His darling and beautiful one. He invites us. “Come with me.” When He shows up, the season of singing has come and the winter has past. Nothing has to be the same if we are willing to leave our resting place. Often where we see ourselves being in a homestead instead of a temporary shelter on the way to our true home. “O lovely one, beautiful one.” He says to us, we are His. In His eyes we are worth temporarily abandoning the perfection of heaven to rescue us from isolation and hopelessness. As He methodically works with us to free us from all that blocks our identity and destiny, He honors us as one worth waiting for. ******* Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. Song of Songs 2:8 He joyfully surmounts great barriers to get to us. He seeks us out. He offers a new vision of who we are. He calls forth our beauty and innate loveliness. We need only resolve to go with Him and leave behind every self-perception and falsity we have ever embraced about ourselves, our lives and Him.

Sitting in the Heavenly Realms with Christ [1] By Dr. Nancy Moelk Audio teaching (6 min.) Audio exercise (6 min.) We want to have an experiential and tangible encounter with all the truth of God as portrayed in the Bible. Today’s exercise is meant to lead you to a more real experience of something you have already received in your relationship with Christ. But you may not have ever laid hold of it in an experiential way. Here is some explanation beforehand to help you with this experience. · We will be practicing deep breathing. When God created everything, he spoke it all into being with one exception: humans. He formed them with his very hands and breathed into them his own life! Every breath we take is a reminder of our loving Creator who still wants to touch us and breathe with us. As we take deep breaths, hold them for a few seconds and then exhale, we are deliberately directing our attention away from our thinking. We want to become aware of our bodies and particularly our hearts, which is the seat of our affections. First, we will take several deep breaths, nice and slow. Then I will give you some brief phrases to repeat which are about your relationship with God based on what the Word of God says. Try to keep taking slow deep breaths with long exhales during the entire exercise. · We are going to be using our imaginations. Our imagination is our ability to see something inside with our internal vision. Some people are opposed to the use of the imagination or any kind of “guided imagery” claiming it is somehow a focus on non-reality or a lie. Imagination can be used in destructive ways as can just about anything. But what if we use our imaginations to envision something that is true. Something that is true about God, about us, about Christ, about others, about the Holy Spirit? What if we use our imaginations to help actualize what we have been given in Christ? Jesus spoke highly of little children. They are naturally full of imagination. No surprise, they have an easier time imagining a Jesus who loves them and cares about them. Their imagination is closely connected to the ability to hope. Our imaginations help us to see the things we are hoping for through faith. Imagination helps us wake up to what we have been given, but never fully activated. · We are going to proceed as if we really have access to heaven now. The Word of God says we are seated in the heavenly places in Christ. What does that look like? Where are we sitting? On what? How? Do you think God the Father would ever want to hold you on his lap? Why not? He is the best father in all creation. Wouldn’t it seem normal for him to be affectionate and attentive to you? The Bible is full of examples of both the majesty, immense power and scariness of God as well as his tender mercy, kindness and willingness to connect to very lowly people. What if we could experience his comfort in a tangible way as we sit on his lap as a small child? "As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted...” Isaiah 61:13 As we ascend into heaven, we will open our hearts to the atmosphere of heaven and the light, life and love that permeates it. We are going to relax and receive as much as we are capable of. Your ability to engage in this kind of encounter will grow over time. It is important to know that the more you focus on the lovely things which exist in the kingdom of God, the kingdom which is already in you, the more real they will become to you. We need to awaken out of our worldly slumber to our inheritance in Christ. Doing exercises like this is one way to quicken our souls via the inner spirit man which already has a connection to all of heaven. If you struggle with being distracted by your thoughts here is a way to dismiss them. Imagine your mind is a “naughty puppy” [2] who wants to get your attention. Kindly say to your thoughts, “not now, puppy.” And return your focus to your breathing. (If you are doing this in a group and someone starts to cry, please honor their private moment with the Father and don’t try to comfort or fix them. It is normal to experience emotion as we connect with the amazing wonder of God’s personality. Allow God to touch his children and you in this moment without anyone else’s help.) We are ready to sit on God’s lap. 1. Place your feet comfortably on the floor and relax. Begin breathing (breathe slowly in and out of your nose), holding your breath for a second or two. That is God’s breath you are breathing. 2. Repeat each of these phrases on an out breath. And then take another breath or two before you say the next phrase. I am his. He is mine. I love him. He loves me. I’m in him. He’s in me. We are one. 3. See your spirit man rising up towards the brilliant light of heaven. Keep breathing. As you become aware of the light of heaven, open your heart, your inner most being to the warmth, the love and the life of heaven’s atmosphere. Stop and enjoy this for several breaths. 4. Now you will ascend a bit higher. You rise up under the sea of glass until you are standing before the throne of God. It’s just you and the Father. He has cleared the court to welcome you and to spend time just with you in this place. You approach him because he is smiling at you and extending his arms towards you, beckoning you to approach. And he says, “would you like to spend time with me child?” You continue to move towards him, and he makes a gesture to pick you up, if you want, and put you on his lap. 5. Sit on the Father’s lap and as you breathe, feel his breath and energy come into every cell of your being. Relax and allow his comfort and presence to soothe and minister to wherever you need it. As you breath out say this: I am home. I am safe here. I am accepted here. Home. 6. Stay here as long as you want. But when you leave, recognize that there is a significant part of you which is there always, sitting with Christ in the heavenly. As our minds are renewed, we will live more and more out of the energy emanating from our communion with God. The more aware we become of that reality, the more we will live out of our union with Christ in our daily lives. [1] This exercise was inspired by two sources. One is a guided ascension exercise by Justin Paul Abraham available as a paid subscriber on the app, Patreon. The other is from Micah Turnbo’s book, The Invitation available on Amazon. [2] I heard Justin Paul Abraham talk about the mind as a “naughty puppy.”

Here is a method to cleanse your home of any demonic influence and to make it much harder for them to bother you again. Archangel, Michael, the head of God's mighty army and who confronted Satan face to face helps us with his swirling blue fire.

Listen Here Discovering who our Spirit Man is, and how to live out of that wonderful part of ourselves, is discussed in this talk as well as the light of Christ that lights our way to the Spirit Man. For Further Study click here. (This talk was originally part of the School of the Eagle Level 2.)

"What is Your Name?" was originally a part of the School of the Ox, Part 2. Below is the an audio for listening and the course material that was included in the School of the Ox Pt. 2. Listen Here For further study (questions, answers, scripture, personal application and prayer): Click Here

Listen Here Most of us are pretty conscious of our body. Most of us are pretty conscious of our soul, mind, will, and emotions. We could say, "I really like to think". Or "I'm really a willful person". Or we can say "I'm really emotional about certain things". So how many of us can say that we're really conscious of our spirit? Today's spiritual exercise is an exercise to help you get in touch with probably the most important part of yourself, your Spirit Man.

Richard Kinney speaks on Destiny. Destiny is a word we have all heard but very few of us know what it is or how to access it. This talk will also help you regain your first love with Jesus and the Father. Listen Here

Here are some classic protection prayers that have been used by saints through the ages. You can listen or read them. https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/fd53d6_b16fceeeab6f46039dc16a14c26e0ff7.mp3 Psalm 91 is known as the Soldiers’ Psalm. In World War I, the soldiers of the 91st Brigade recited the Psalm 91 every day. This brigade participated in three of the war’s bloodiest battles. Other units suffered up to 90% casualties, but the 91st Brigade did not suffer a single combat-related death. Paul presented the armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18 as one of our ways of both protecting ourselves spiritually and of also advancing God's kingdom on earth. St. Patrick's Breastplate was used by him and his followers because they were often under attack by people involved in witchcraft. Once they had to travel by night and they recited this prayer as they walked through the dark woods. Those lying in for wait for them never saw them. They were invisible to their attackers. They are listed below, and an audio file is included for you to repeat them along with us. https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/fd53d6_b16fceeeab6f46039dc16a14c26e0ff7.mp3

We all suffer from some bad habits. They may be mental habits. Thinking negative, harmful thoughts about ourselves or others is one example. We may lack discipline to take care of our bodies. Or we can struggle to behave in a Christ-like way in challenging moments or in demanding relationships or jobs. So what is the key for transformation when we see we are falling short from our true identity--which is the bonding of who we are with who Christ is. I was reading a book called, The Invitation, by Micah Turnbo. He had an interaction with an angel of purity where the angel gave him advice on how to advance in being transformed. It is the best advice I have ever heard on this topic. “You are already pure, you just have bad habits. To get rid of those habits, replace them with something new and beautiful. It takes practice to walk out what is yours. Purity is already given to you; your father gives grace because he knows habits can be challenging. To help you practice walking in purity, live in a place of worship and praise, which is the entryway to His presence. There are many other ways you can practice walking in purity, which is another way of saying ‘walking in his presence’. Get creative and replace those bad habits. It’s possible to get rid of them all. You just have to put in the work, and they will go away! … There is something else I want to say too. Purity is strengthened in a place of intimacy with Him, which brings a greater sense of power. When you walk in purity, you will see the power of God manifest in your life, so it is important that you live in what has already been given to you." (Emphasis mine). Excerpt from The Invitation by Micah Turnbo, page 144.

Richard Kinney talks on some of the ways to become more effective in prayer and helps you to let go of some of the ways that have shown themselves to not be effective. Listen here to the teaching.

Run with Chariots Women’s Retreat The Father’s House in Conyers, GA 10-30-23 Video Video of Nancy Moelk Teaching at Women's Retreat Audio File of Dr. Nancy Moelk Steps to Living out of Heaven 1. Make friendship with God your highest priority. 2. Pursue hearing God’s voice. Spend time and effort learning this. 3. Move from asking to declaring becoming a Co-creator with Christ. 4. Governance: sit and rest till he makes your enemy your footstool “Faith is visual. God made your imagination so you can see things you’ve never seen or experienced before! Attach faith to your imagination.”- Wendy Backlund The Power of your Imagination · Co-creation with Christ is not optional but an essential part of our mission and nature. · God imagined everything and then he made it. (Genesis 1) · God imagined you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1) · You have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) · You are a co-creator with Christ. (1 Corinthians 3:9) · Your imagination is a powerful force inside of you. It helps develop faith. (Hebrews 11:1) · Imagination is a bridge between the natural and supernatural worlds. That is why we must become like little children: dare to imagine the impossible. (Matthew 18) · Re-write your history including the presence of God by using your imagination. David constantly uses his imagination to imagine God in his circumstances and even in his past. (Psalm 139: 13-14) I pray you will be promoted by everything you receive from this website and that it will launch you into more and more of a life that constantly brings heaven to earth everywhere you go. Upgrade your relationship with God from a walk to a journey, from a journey to an adventure, from an adventure to a multi-dimensional epic! God wants to show you a whole new world. He wants to take you from wonder to wonder giving you a fantastic point of view. Say yes to this invitation. A Prophetic Word for the Women’s Retreat from the Holy Spirit “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways. I don’t set the bar too high for you, my child. It is always reasonable. I love to watch you expand and grow and reach up higher than you ever have before. I delight in any progress, and I forgive, and am very compassionate about every fall or failure. You truly are the Apple of my eye. I delight in you.” At this point, I could feel the Holy Spirit smiling and chuckling contentedly. Clearing a Path for God Encounters Calm your mind by focusing on God’s breath in you. Ignore your random thoughts. Be still and know he is God. Affirm your imagination. “Open the eyes of my heart, God, to gaze on you and to see what is going on in heaven. I choose to imagine God’s reality.” Practice psalm 23. Live out in your imagination each picture of Psalm 23. See the shepherd. Let him lead you. Allow yourself to drink from his water and lie down next to him in green pastures, etc. Learn to go into courts of heaven to begin to take hold of everything Jesus bought for you with his blood. See list of resources for books about this. Move into a manifestation of your inheritance now, in this life. Levels of Prayer Every level of prayer is important to God. He longs for any kind of interaction with you. When you focus on him, he is glad to engage with you in whatever form and at whatever level you are capable of doing it. Intercession is based on need. We come to God asking. Warfare is based on the struggle to prevail. Governance is based on position and authority. Here are some Psalms about governance: 21, 45, and 110. Because we are “in Christ”, whatever is spoken of him as King, Priest and Prophet, also applies to us. Accept it. Grasp it. Make it your identity. Governance results in rest and is based on trust. Unbelief blocks us from receiving the promise (see Hebrews chapter 3 & 4). We need the word of God to set us free from living out of our own soul’s power and into the power provided in our spirit by oneness with Christ. (Hebrews 4:12) Don’t be afraid of angels. They are wind and fire, which are elements of the Holy Spirit. The goal of angels and all of heaven’s population is to bring you into more and more intimacy with Christ. They also want you to grow in the Father’s love and the passion of the Holy Spirit. Faith Faith focuses on the final outcome. Before Jesus did something, he first saw it first, imagined it by looking at what the Father was doing. (John 5:19-20) Faith uses the imagination as a vehicle of presenting “the evidence of things hoped for.” (Hebrews 11:1) The faith you have, and use is a gift from God. (Eph. 2:8) You can’t muster it up on your own. Ask for his help in using what he has given you. Declarations to Move you Towards Seeing God Face to Face 1. The Lord is my shepherd. I am his sheep and I hear his voice. The shepherd likes to speak with me. 2. I can hear Gods voice.. It is easy for me to discern God‘s voice. 3. Jesus is my best friend. I am the friend that Jesus always wanted. 4. I enjoy having conversations with God. Like a father to his child, God enjoys sharing his heart with me. 5. Any barriers between me and God have been removed and we can talk freely with one another. 6. Heavenly Love, I can see your face. I can hear your voice. For your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. 7. You’re helping me to catch the little foxes that are trying to ruin my relationship with you. 8. You love to be with me. 9. You find me fascinating and beautiful. 10. I have your constant attention, affection, and approval. Courts of Heaven Prayer for a Loved One Inspired by Receiving Generational Blessings from the Courts of Heaven, by Robert Henderson with Adam Henderson, Chapter 5 (Use this outline as a template and tailor this to the individual.) Repent Lord, I bring this person before your courts. As I stand here, I repent on his/her behalf for his failure in life as a father, or husband, or whatever function, this person should be serving. I ask for your blood to speak for him. I also repent for any lie he has believed about himself. I ask these lies would be undone. I ask before your courts that for every untruth he is believing, he would be forgiven, in Jesus name. Break curses Lord. I repent for every evil word I have said against this person. I ask that I might be forgiven, and these words might be annulled. I ask that these words would be dismissed and not allowed as evidence against this person in your courts. Lord, I love this person. I ask that this might be recorded in the courts. Let him go free from all the negative things I (or anyone else) have spoken against him in Jesus name. Declare their destiny Lord, as I stand in your courts, I declare that this person is ordained by you to have a deep loving personal connection with you. To live a healthy and abundant life. To advance your kingdom, to represent the love of Christ, and to be a conqueror. They are meant to be head and not the tail. I declare that his feet are beautiful and glorious as he runs, with you and your salvation. I ask based on this prophetic word, that you will cause this person‘s destiny and purpose to be restored. Break Demonic Power I rebuke now in Jesus’ name whatever spirit is afflicting this person. I declare you have no power against this person. I say your Rights are revoked and you are removed right now in Jesus’ name! Take a Scripture and Make it your Own. Live it. One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. My personal version: Psalm 27:4 The thing that I am most passionate about, and that I want to pursue with all my heart on a daily basis. That I would be constantly aware of walking in the dimension of the kingdom that lives within me I want to be overwhelmed and consumed by the essence of God‘s presence and personality I want to keep knowing him infinitely more and more and everything about him. I want to be in a constant learning and knowing process and keep discovering more and more, the wonders of who he is and how beautiful he is. I want to see him in a tactile way, in greater in greater measure. The holy spirit is the passion of God, and he dwells in me. Make this your daily prayer and God will meet your passion with his. PDF File of Prayer for a Loved One PDF File of Notes

Five Signs you Don't Feel the Love and Approval of God Audio Teaching (20 minutes) https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/fd53d6_bf12fffb24db4a498486fc9e69ac3729.mp3 Audio Exercise (40 minutes) https://static.wixstatic.com/mp3/fd53d6_ea9defdda0734c239d342247309a9369.mp3 From birth all of us are created with a need for love and approval. As children we are able to take in the love and approval of our parents and that is actually healthy and helpful but as you know on earth it is a rather imperfect go around. Some people get a little and some of us get a lot. I like to think of us as eating and being nourished by love and approval. As adults, however, we are no longer able to eat human love and approval. It doesn’t work for us. And because the devil knows that we need it in order to be strong and to represent God well, he has made most of us ashamed about our need for love and approval. So you have gone to different people, or your work, or some accomplishment or a physical trait to get love and approval and you have found it empty. And many times there is a scar tissue built up from our quest from what we are designed to have because we look in the wrong place. The devil has gone way out of his way to get you to actually have shame in this area. So many people do. I not saying all of you do but it wouldn’t surprise me if some of you do. Examples of how human love and approval doesn’t work. How many popular rock bands and famous people who are known and adored by masses often have personal lives characterized by drugs or alcohol, broken relationships and unhappiness. Here are five symptoms that we don’t feel the love and approval/appreciation of God: 1. We will feel empty. 2. We will be in pain emotionally, possibility physically. 3. We will, because of our pain, feel a need to call attention to ourselves. (big toe example) 4. We will be overly busy (sign of emptiness). 5. We will be fragile (easy to be offended, to be anger, easy to hurt, despondent, check out of life). I want to talk to you for a moment about ego. Ego has a bad rap in mind of many people’s minds. Christian circles. Ego is simply the healthy structure of the personality. The bones that the personality hangs on. In order to bear the weight or God and pre4snece of God you need a strong healthy ego. Egotism is sick ego. So, if we have egotism, It is all about us. All self-focus. Many of the most egotistical people will tell you they are pond scum and don’t deserve to live. They are just waiting to be dismissed and rejected. You don’t need to be in love with yourself to be an egotist. All you need to be is overly self-focused. The devil knows we need love and approval and works against it in us. Sometimes we pretend we don’t need it but we miss it. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to get back in touch with this love and approval that we so desperately need. God showed us this exercise to help people to get in touch with God’s love and approval and it works very well. There are two perspectives that we always have the love and approval of God in. The first one is from the perspective is one that He created us before we came out of our mother’s womb. He put in us things that please Him and things that He loves. The first thing would be Himself. There is a part of Him in us, the spirit man. And He loves and enjoys Himself. He approves of himself. Next there are gifts and callings. All of you are unique here. All of you have some special gifts, callings and abilities that God delights in and He always have. The Bible says He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. In Him there is no change or shadow of turning. So, His love for us is not a light switch. It does not hinge on our behavior. It is not the tail wagging the dog. It’s not like God’s got a little switch, “I approve of you, I love you. I don’t approve of you. I don’t love you. I approve of you, I love you, I don’t approve of you, I don’t love you.” From this perspective of what He loves in us-- I am not saying He is not aware of our shortcomings and sins. I am just saying He is not overcome by them. If some of you are counselors, you have heard some pretty gory things from people. Do you hate those people? If you do this for a living, basically the fact that the person has problems doesn’t offend you particularly. And you are moving on toward their healing. I am not saying you aren’t aware of them. But I find that what’s good about people if you bring that forward pushes out what’s bad about people. Where no amount of harping about how bad they are ever seems to heal anything. So, we deal with the bad in people, but counseling needs to hold more tightly to what God did right in you, to what God put in you already that can’t actually be destroyed regardless of these experiences you have had. And we find this again and again. And I’ve had people who have been cocaine addicts, who have done all sorts of reprehensible sins, who have been really, really lost. And yet within a year or so you find this shining, strong individual who really, while though they aren’t perfect, are free of their presenting problems and living a life that is God-pleasing and useful to others. Ask yourself, “If you were a perfect God, would you create crappy people? I was a caterer for twenty years and I like to cook. I am good at it. It’s fun for me. It is one of the ways I express love to my family and friends. If when I cook, things go wrong everyone stays out of the kitchen because there are pots and pans are flying around and dark words are spoken. I hate making crappy food. Well I’m not perfect, but God is. So the idea that he is going to make crappy, loser type people, is really not on the possibility list. So from the perspective of how He created you, He loves and approves of you. Access it today. A way, not only way. Listen to the exercise that will help you to experience this here . Get father’s love gives a sense of his love and approval. Wouldn’t think much of a parent who is on again off again towards their child. I hate you, I don’t approve of you. You don’t endorse everything they do. There is a constancy to your love and of your vision of the child as important, valuable, necessary. Even though you are aware of their faults, you are aware of their positives even when they are being rotten. At night you walk into their room and look at them, even after a day where they misbehaved, and you look upon them with deep love. There is another perspective I want to tell you about. God lives in eternity he doesn’t live in time. I want to give you a little teaching on that. I want you to imagine a little block on the floor. Most of here on earth believe that time and gravity are constants and we can depend on them unfailingly to be with them. So we can fly to India we know we will be in a different time zone but there is still time and we don’t expect the pen to fly out of our pocket. On the other hand, if you go up in a space shuttle, I don’t really know how many miles, but it’s not too many miles. Until your pen starts floating around. And you start floating around. In heaven there is no time and you can’t have time and eternity simultaneously because the nature of eternity is no time. So God sees you (I am addressing this to saved Christians. I am not going to try to take a bigger bite than that) from that perspective He sees you (have to use things that don’t totally work but our perspective requires we have to have a sense of time) Have you ever gone to a conference or a prayer time coming home with your face shining and your heart all cleaned up feeling lighter and stronger. How do you think you will feel after you have been in heaven for 10,000 years? You think you might clean up a bit better? Do you think you will look better and act better? From that perspective God sees you. Let’s do a little exercise. Pretend there is a block on the floor a little kid ABC block. And you are a little ant. This is how many of us perceive time. We start our life on the edge of the block and we walk forward midlife is in the middle of the block and at the end of the block you fall off the block bye bye and you are dead. God we are going to perceive as a great big dome over the block. But actually he is a never ending dome and He perceives you as he approved of you created you in the beginning, and he sees you as you are in the moment and not that he isn’t aware of your faults and then he also sees you as you will be in the future into 10,000 years. Heaven is an interesting fascinating fun place where there is responsibility and different possibility that unfold forever and ever and ever. I am easily bored and look forward to the heaven. It is exciting and beyond what we can imagine in the way of joy and ecstasy. Not a boring sermon or church picnic! This exercise will break down scar tissue and walls barriers you have put up to God’s love and approval. Satan has conned you into. Shame a scary, driving force. It is a toxic force in people that hurts them terribly and it is difficult to help them let it go. But this will take down some of that shame. So from this perspective, He sees you and loves and approves of you. He sees you from these two perspectives at the same time. In the exercise we will teach you, we will help you break down some of the scar tissue and walls that have been put up in you and that Satan has conned you into. We are going to tear down these walls together. It reminds me of the children of Israel going through the Red Sea and the sea is piled up on either side and the walls are quivering ready to crash down. The sea is symbolic of God’s massive love and approval for you from the two perspectives we have discussed. When we connect with this love and approval, it will change us and fill us with energy and joy to become the truly impactful Christians that we were created to be. An Excerpt from a Class on the Love and Approval of God by Richard Kinney To hear this free class in its entirely and to listen to a small group of people being brought through the exercise go to http://firehouseministries.com/product/love-and-approval/ Ask God to show you from these two perspectives on how he sees you from these two perspectives. And then not just see it but begin to feel it. If you have scar tissue around your emotions this will be more difficult. But don’t give up. You will want to continue to add to these pictures that God shows you of how he approves and loves you. We are not looking for a rendition of all the bad things about you. You are not hearing from God if that is what you are focusing on. We want to keep advancing little by little in seeing more and feeling more of how God sees us and feels about us. Experiencing his love and approval is worth the time to do this on a regular basis.