Good Morning and Happy Thanksgiving! It’s been a couple of years or more since I quoted from any research articles or papers on the subject of coffee, but here’s one for you to take a look at. This one deals with coffee’s ability to cancel bad breath.
Howdee! In case nobody has told you yet, you look like a million dollars! Yup. Fact is you’re worth more than a million dollars – and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Got some more French Roasted Columbian Supremo from San Francisco Bay Coffee Co. in the pot. Hurry up and pour yourself a cup so we can get started.
Today’s discussion wil run a bit long, but I wanted to finish up before moving on to a new discussion on a different topic. We won’t simply talk about the name of Jesus, we need to get into the concept and principle of actually operating in the name of Jesus. We’ve had this discussion before — or at least part of it — but what we are talking about is the character, the nature, the essence of Who Jesus is, His Onoma!
We’ve been talking about the concept of holiness, but let’s get into the Hebrew text to look at this word a bit better and see if we can grasp the simplicity of holiness. Holiness is not complicated. There’s nothing mysterious or mystical about it. This word comes from the Hebrew, qadash, which means to be clean, to be consecrated, to wholly separate yourself to the Lord and the things of God. Anyone who knew my father would quickly tell you that this word defined him, his character, and his complete commitment to the Lord. If the Lord said something to him and instructed him to go some place or do something, you could take it to the bank! Neither hell nor high water were going to dissuade him.
The early 1980’s were a launch pad for us into the presence of the Lord. Sometimes our worship sessions lasted for well over an hour, and the more we gave time to it as a fellowship, the greater was the degree of His intimate presence. There were a few times when the presence of the Lord filled our midst to such a degree that no one moved, no one made a sound, we just bathed in His Holiness. That was an introductory time for all of us. The House of Praise was an adjunct to CBN-Alaska, Inc., and our affiliation with Pat Robertson and the 700 Club. CBN went through some major changes in 1983 and decided to discontinue all of its satellite operations. That meant that we no longer had authorization to operate under CBN’s administration, and it also meant that we lost much of our funding. Closing the doors of that ministry was a shock to all of us, and with a number of other changes in the works, we closed up our Fairbanks operations and moved to Anchorage.
You’ll excuse me for the following. I know it is basic, and we have covered this before, but this is foundational to our response to “Come Up Higher!” One cannot live in the Spirit, and one cannot walk in the Spirit until such time as they surrender to Holy Spirit completely and unreservedly. That surrender is generally marked by a release of Holy Spirit using their tongue. They yield total control of their tongue to Holy Spirit and He speaks through them in some language (or languages) they’ve never learned — and in most cases have never heard. Why this becomes a proof of one’s immersion in the Spirit is evidenced in something that James writes to the body of Christ.
Coming up higher is not a metaphor, or a figure of speech! This is a real, living experience. I don’t want to go there today because it would take too long for the time we have left, but in a couple of weeks, we will talk about living in the presence of the Lord. That is something that Della and I have experienced in time past with unbelievable but tangible results. Consider how John experienced the kind of revelation that opened up whole new dimensions to him.
Bill and Gloria Gaither have written a song that the Gaither Vocal Band has released on their latest CD, titled, “Praise God, I’m a Child of the King.” The second line to the song is, “And His royal blood now flows in my veins.” That’s a revelation that seems to escape most of us. The truth of that phrase is that it is the very life blood of the Lord that flows in us, and with that life blood comes the very character, nature and essence of Who He is. With that essence comes a level of inheritance in Heaven that incorporates the authority and power.
Let’s wrap up this discussion on liberals and conservatives today. Next week we will get into a prophetic message that comes out of two experiences I had with the audible voice of the Lord a few weeks ago. It's been awhile since I've had such a volume of responses to a short series of Coffee Breaks, but these articles on being "liberal" have provoked a series of comments that run the gamut. Some people have gotten irritated -- maybe downright angry -- that I would highlight the fact that Jesus -- and all true Christian believers -- are in fact "liberals" and not "conservatives." Others treat this as humorous, and some treat it as "tongue-in-cheek."
Today’s discussion will address some of the physical and political aspects, but we really are still focusing on the fact that our perspective on what properly classifies one as a “liberal” should be more spiritually acclimated. Our society has really messed with our ability to properly define things, and in today’s warped conversation, we have really gone astray.