God has Moved me to a Wide Place

Over the last week or two I read the best Christian book I’ve ever seen. It’s called Fire on the Altar, and it was written by Fred Stone, the father of TV teacher and evangelist Perry Stone.

I love Perry Stone’s work, but if I have to be honest, I’ll say I think his father has helped me more. I think his father was somewhat more humble and closer to the Holy Spirit.

The book is full of remarkable testimonies that illustrate the kingdom principles he teaches. As a young man in West Virginia, he accepted God in a time when revival was washing over Appalachia. He learned about the gift of tongues, and the power it carries. He dedicated his life to God. He spent much of his life pastoring churches, and he exhibited many of the gifts of the Spirit, including tongues, the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, supernatural faith, and miraculous healing. He writes about these things as a witness and practititioner, not as a spectator or theorist. His accounts are helpful. A person who has never done a certain thing can’t teach as well as someone who has done it.

He spoke to foreigners in languages he did not understand. He saw God put an iris and pupil in a deformed eye. He had visions in which he left his body to learn from God. He saw angels. You really need to read the book to get a picture of it.

It confirms so many things God has taught me. It’s great when God corrects, but it’s even better when he tells you you’re right about something.

You can get the book at the VOE website, which I linked to, above.

My own adventure keeps unfolding and improving. The progress never stops.

For a long time, I’ve been telling people prayer in tongues would fill them with power and bring them closer to God. As time passes, God confirms that message over and over, more and more strongly. I was not wrong about it. It came from him.

God’s power and presence fall on me more and more often, and they do so with increasing intensity. Some people call this the “anointing,” but anointing means authority, so I just say “power and presence.” I feel that the veil between me and him gets very thin at times. Here’s a peculiar truth about God: the ability to perceive him and to believe him is not natural. It’s not something you can manufacture by trying really hard. It comes from the Holy Spirit. You may have a little faith before you are baptized with the Spirit, but it’s nothing compared to the faith that develops in you over time, as you maintain a regimen of prayer in tongues.

You can pray for increased faith, and for God to reduce your unbelief. It works. It’s a shame people don’t know this. Faith is the currency of the supernatural realm, and God wants you to have it, because he wants you to be able to do his work. He is ready to give it to you; you are not required to do it all on your own, like the Hebrews who had to gather their own straw to hold bricks together.

I am now spending a minimum of 1 1/2 hours a day in prayer, much of it in tongues, and most of the time I do much better than that. As a result, God is teaching me more and becoming more obvious. And good things are happening around me. The closer you get to God, the more you are identified with him. The more you are identified with him, the more you do his work and invite attacks from his enemies. That makes you part of him, and he will increase his interaction with you, and he will increase the provision and protection he gives you.

Sometimes I can’t pray in English. The Spirit won’t allow it. I’ll try to stop praying in tongues and go on in English, and he will not permit it. The Spirit knows the will of the Father. There are urgent needs I have to pray for, and only the Spirit knows what they are. Apparently, sometimes they are so important, they take precedence over anything I could ask for in my own language.

The Bible tells us the Spirit knows the will of God, and it tells us God will grant us what we ask for, if we pray according to his will. It’s obvious that letting the Spirit pray through us will bring results.

It’s important to get information from people who know God. The Bible says we perish for lack of knowledge. God will literally let you die, when you don’t know what to do about your situation. Our predecessors were supposed to gain and preserve knowledge of God and pass it down to us, but they didn’t do it, so now most Christians are ignorant. They don’t know their rights. Teaching us was not God’s responsibility. We’re supposed to make this world work; it’s not his job. You have to listen to people who have knowledge, and you have to store it up and apply it.

The new church is very satisfying. I’m probably going to do some armorbearer work there, but it won’t be quite as hairy as working at the other church. Less like police work. That would be nice.

It’s hard to get used to being in a church where people mean what they say. Jesus said we would be judged for every idle word. In most churches, they’ll let idiots go on stage and “prophesy” and “bless,” and everyone knows none of it means anything. It’s like incense that fails to rise toward God. But at New Dawn, they really expect things to happen, so you have to pay attention and take it seriously.

The other day, one week after my old church taught the ridiculous “Abishai anointing,” which is basically intended to neuter everyone but the pastor, my new church taught that we were supposed to think in kingdom terms. We are supposed to be kings. We have authority. I am always a little nervous about “speaking” things into existence, but the Bible does say we can prophesy, declare, and bless. The pastor decreed that we would come to think in kingdom terms, and he asked us to receive it, and I went for it.

Ever since then, I’ve felt the authority inside me. We really are supposed to be kings. As I said above, God put us here to run the earth. What is a person who runs a planet? A king, obviously. We were supposed to be on top, but we sold out and ended up on the bottom.

Paul said Satan had principalities and powers on his side. Satan has never had an original idea. He copies everything; he was even copying when he said he would be like God. Clearly, Satan stole the idea of supernatural powers and authorities. So who are God’s principalities? Angels? Presumably. But also human beings. The Bible tells us we are God’s children. What is the child of a king? A prince and future king.

I now feel more confidence in my prayers, which is saying a lot. I feel more serious about my purpose. I don’t just have a right to ask for things. I have an obligation. A soldier wouldn’t turn down a machine gun or body armor. God expects to supply and help me.

Here’s something interesting. Last night, a pastor taught us that Jezebel had castrated men in order to dishonor them. I had never thought about that. I had read that eunuchs had thrown Jezebel to her death, but I had never thought about the incongruity: castrated men in a Jewish castle.

The Jews did not castrate. The practice has been done in other places, like China and Babylon. The idea is to prevent gifted subordinates from impregnating the queen or raising up sons to challenge the incumbent dynasty. It must have been considered disgraceful for Jezebel to have castrated men in her service. Did they volunteer? Were they forced? Did ambitious parents send them to be castrated? Was Jezebel such a slut that Ahab had her servants castrated? I don’t know. But it was an anomaly.

At my old church, they taught people they were supposed to be lowly “Abishais.” They could not comment on church policy, or on corruption in the leadership. They were not to expect rewards or recognition. They were to dedicate their lives to promoting the pastors.

By this definition, what is an “Abishai”? It’s a eunuch. Greedy, abusive pastors do not want their subordinates to flourish, especially if they’re talented or capable. They pretend to offer their underlings promotion, but somehow, the pastor and his family end up getting all the glory. Eunuchs serve until they get fed up, and then new eunuchs who don’t know any better come along. Eunuchs get limited authority. They don’t get to succeed pastors. They don’t bear fruit, because the pastors undermine them. Pastors want to stay on top, and then they want their sons to take over.

Now think about David, who was a king. He started out as a shepherd, and then he became an armorbearer. An armorbearer is supposed to be promoted eventually. Some succeeded their masters. Others went on to their own domains. An armorbearer isn’t sterile. He is expected to go on and bear fruit. He eventually becomes a king, and the cycle repeats.

My old church gave me an Abishai award. I was gracious when I received it, but I never knew what to do with it. I eventually used the frame for a photo of Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and me, at the National Day of Prayer.

Now I feel the award was an insult from a principality. The people at the church intended to honor me, I suppose, but that’s the natural understanding. In all likelihood, there was a supernatural reason for the award. I think it was the enemy’s way of saying, “You are stuck here, and you will not grow or expand God’s kingdom in your own right. Keep your head down, continue making those bricks, and then die.”

I have realized I can’t be stopped. I have God’s favor. The kingdom of heaven is like a tree, and while you can try to stunt a tree by putting it in a small pot, the roots of a tree can break stone in order to grow. As long as I water myself with prayer in the Spirit, I will grow, and God will always move me to a place where I can continue to expand. People have tried to stop me, but they lost, and they will always lose, because I’m not the one they’re actually fighting. They are fighting someone so great, in his presence, they don’t even amount to specks of dust.

I the end, I will have fruit, but their fruit will dry up and die. I want to say, “unless they repent,” but I don’t feel it’s correct. Maybe that just means I should pray for them.

Another interesting thing: Fred Stone died without much money. He was a wonderful servant of God, but by his own admission, he did not have faith for financial help. He believed this had hindered his ministry. His son built a multimillion-dollar ministry which is always solvent, and Fred Stone believed his son was able to do this because he had no problem believing God would supply him.

I am not a prosperity buff. I am disgusted by the way charismatic preachers talk about money all the time. But I do believe God wants us to do well. I’m not practicing law now, and I don’t want to starve in the future, so I do pray for new sources of income. Reading what Fred Stone said gave me great confidence. I prayed about it last night while driving home from church, and waves of faith hit me, just like the time faith told me my ex-girlfriend’s crazy lawsuits were going nowhere. Now I know something is going to break. It’s done. It’s absolutely done. I’m telling this because it may be useful to someone reading this. I received the gift of supernatural faith through regular prayer in tongues, and you can see how it’s paying off. If it worked for me, it will work for you. Just don’t put your carnal desires ahead of your desire to please God.