Victory Over Your Ruling Spirit

Victory over your ruling spirit

The existence and reality of ruling evil spirits is well documented in the scriptures. Daniel chapter ten makes it clear that evil spirits can and do rule over nations. Jesus made it clear that the evil strong man over any adverse situation must be removed before that situation can be changed.

Matthew 12:28	But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
29	Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

The classic example of a hindering ruling spirit is that between David and Goliath

Goliath’s challenge to Israel is recorded in 1Samuel 17:2-11

1 Samuel 17:4	And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span.
8	And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me.
9	If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us.

The country of the Philistines was ruled by five Lords who reigned over five cities, Josh 13:3.  Goliath had five brothers who also were giants and it was necessary that all of these giants be defeated before they could secure the Promised Land. See 2 Samuel 21:19-21.  David along with his men defeated all five of these giants.

Goliath challenged Israel for forty days

1 Samuel 17:16

And the Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days.

For many Christians the enemy has challenged and ruled over them for a many years in specific areas of their lives, a stronghold that has kept them back from being free to move on in God. Often these are hereditary strongholds which greatly hinder the person limiting their experience in God to that of mediocre, often it is in the area of health problems, Goliath roared for forty days, forty is an interesting biblical number.  There is a biblical principle called the “the law of first mention”  which states that where a topic or truth or number is mentioned for the first time in scripture in that first mention are the basic fundamental of the meaning of the subject.  Forty days is first mentioned in Genesis 7:4

Genesis 7:4

For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.

It rained for forty days and nights  

Genesis 7:17

And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth.

We see that this occurred in the days of Noah and it is interesting to note that in the days of Noah there were giants in the land. Genesis 6:4. God said to Noah that the end of all flesh is come Genesis 6:13. In this first mention of forty days the context revolves around giants and the end of all flesh and incredible violence in the land. This is an accurate picture of the day and age in which we are now living.  The Apostle Peter liked the age in which the flood occurred to this present age: 1 Peter 3:20-21 and the need for putting way of the flesh.

The next significant forty occurred during the time of Moses

A giant in Egypt had held Gods people captive for generations.  But God had a deliverer by the name of Moses, who after forty years was released to set the captives free. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness being prepared for this great deliverance. After the forty years he was ready to take on the strongman.

Next we see Israel forty years in the wilderness

Deuteronomy 2:7

For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.

One whole generation died off in the wilderness, this generation new the blessings and the provision of God but never entered the Promised Land. They never entered all that God had for them. A generation is scripture is considered to be Forty years. Num 32:13

40 years ago today history was made when man placed his feet on the moon

The prophetic words “one small step for man one giant step for mankind”

I first heard these words when my wife and I were working as missionaries in French New Caledonia, a tropical Island in the South Pacific Ocean. At that time the church was poised on the brink of a new move of God which proved to be a giant leap for the church, within twelve months the church was experiencing a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit which came to be known as the “Charismatic Move” Now forty years later one whole generation later. We are poised on the brink of a great new move of the Holy Spirit which will transcend all that has gone before.

Giants are about to be defeated and dethroned 

These giants are personal as well as principalities, and powers ruling nations. The spirit of the Lord is about to raise up a standard against the enemy and if you flow with it you can have victory over those ruling spirits in your life.  There are special times in God which in the Greek language is called a Kairos time, these are special times of visitation which can bring profound change for good if we embrace what God is doing. Great liberation is coming to those who will accept it this next move of God and flow with it. Don’t be like those who missed Gods visitation.

Luke 19:44

And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

Many in Jesus day missed their day of visitation because the thought it would be different to what they imagined it would be like

We see Jesus the son of God defeating the ultimate strong man Satan after forty days in the wilderness. Luke chapter 4

Jesus then made this statement;

Luke 4:18	The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
19	To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
20	And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
21	And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.

The church is coming out of a forty year period in which many sons will proclaim the year of the lord and freedom to the captives.

Just as in the days of Noah when all flesh came to an end, even so God is about to remove the flesh from the church in a preparatory move to bringing forth the bride the helpmate of the Lord, and together they will bring in the harvest and close out this present age.

Blessings
Neville Johnson  Monday, July 20, 2009

Interpreting Dreams

Interpreting Dreams

I get a lot of emails asking me if there is any formula for interpreting dreams, I wish there was but unfortunately there is no formula. Only the Holy Spirit can accurately give the meaning of a dream. The book of Joel and the book of Acts make clear that one of the primary ways which the Lord will be speaking to His people in these end-times  will be through dreams and visions, therefore it is very important that we can accurately interpret them. We cannot presume that we have the ability to do this, there is no formula and God designed it that way in order to keep us dependent upon Him.

Jeremiah 10:23

O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Spiritual things have to be spiritually discerned,

1 Corinthians 2:14

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

There are many books out there in Christian circles on how to interpret dreams and they can be helpful but we need to be cautious when it comes to certain symbols always meaning the same thing, because there are no formulas.

SymbolismOften dreams and visions involve symbolism and understanding this can be helpful. There are biblical symbols that usually mean the same thing in prophetic revelation. For instance gold usually speaks of the divinity and nature of God, gold does not tarnish. Silver speaks of redemption; Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver in order to redeem us. Purple is a royal color and speaks if kingship and authority. Flies speak of lies, Satan is called Beelzebub which means “Lord of the flies” If you have a dream with flies in it, it usually means that you are being attacked with lies. We see that there are many and varied biblical symbols that are helpful to us in interpreting dreams and we need to familiarize ourselves with some of the most obvious symbols and what they mean or symbolize, in saying this we must never become presumptuous as symbols can mean different things. For instance a serpent if often interrupted as a symbol of Satan or evil. However in Numbers 21:6-9 it represented the Messiah, and healing.  Goats often speak of witchcraft, sorcery and evil practices but in Leviticus 16 it is used for the scapegoat a picture again of the Messiah.

Heart AttitudesQuite often when we are going through a difficult time and we interpret a dream in the light of what we are going through, we presume it is about the difficulties we are currently going through, when often it has nothing to do with our present difficulties.

If we harbor bitterness, rejection or rebelling this will color anything we may receive from the lord and we will interpret it in from a standpoint of our negative attitudes. We must never presume when it comes to interpreting dreams.

TimingI once had a very detailed spiritual dream but even though I sought the Lord for understanding, no understanding was forth coming. Eventually I gave it away attributing it to too much pizza the night before.  Just recently after five years from when I had the dream suddenly without warning I recalled the dream again and instantly had a very clear interpretation of it. It was so clear so obvious to me I wondered why I had not understood it before and the fulfillment of the dream was for now. Why does God do that? I don’t know but He has a very good reason for giving me that dream five years in advance.

Daniel 1:17

As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

God gave Daniel understanding in visions and dreams, even King Nebuchadnezzar recognized this.

Daniel 2:28	But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;
30	But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.
47	The king answered unto Daniel, and said, Of a truth it is, that your God is a God of gods, and a Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, seeing thou couldest reveal this secret.

Learn what works for you often the Holy Spirit will use symbols which are unique to you these symbols have meaning just for you, they will nto work for anyone else. You must learn to recognize them, but remember.

It is the Holy Spirit that gives us dreams and then interprets them for us.

God Bless you
 Neville Johnson Tuesday, July 14, 2009

The Process of Conditioning

The process of conditioning

The scriptures give us many examples and promises of a great End-Time revival. The prophet Joel prophesied about the day in which we now live indicating that there would be a great and unusual outpouring of the Spirit which would produces a massive end-time harvest.

Joel 2:28	And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29	And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30	And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31	The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
24	And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25	And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

These scriptures clearly speak of a great outpouring of the Spirit in these End- Times. A time when the sun shall become darkened, and the moon becomes red in color. See Matthew 24:29.  Some things are certain, they are a part of Gods plan, they will happen as God said they would. The harvest will be brought in during a time of great revival, these things are certain and sure. Our responsibility is to be ready when these events take place. Just like a surfer who knows the wave will come and has to be positioned and ready to ride it in. 

Psalms 110:3

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth.

As this verse indicates, God will have a people who are ready in this day, the day of His power.  The prophet Joel prophesied that during this time the Lord will roar out of Zion.

Joel 3:15	The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16	The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.

I am sure we have not understood the magnitude and power of the coming revival. The Lion of Judah will come on the scene with a roar that will shake the entire planet and a great army will go forth across the earth, this last and final missions thrust will take the gospel to every tribe to every language group in this earth. Mat 13:38  The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 

Matthew 13:39

The enemy that sowed them is the devil;

The harvest is the end of the world(age) God promised that He would have a people ready for these great End-Time events;

Psalms 110:3

Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.

We need insight and foresight

It is not enough to be able to understand what God will do i.e. (insight) we need foresight or the wisdom to prepare for what is coming. God spoke to Noah and said a flood was coming upon the whole earth, that was insight; but God also gave Noah the foresight to prepare an Ark. 

Hebrews 11:7

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

Five wise and five foolish virgins

Jesus used this prophetic story to warn the End-Time church, and I guess most Christians have read this story many times. This parable gives us insight and foresight into the days in which we now live. We the church are called to the marriage of the Lamb, now note; these ten virgins all had oil in their lamps which speaks of salvation and the experience of the infilling of the Holy Spirit, however only half of them were ready for the coming wedding.

Matthew 25:6	And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
8	And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

We need to understand that all of these twelve virgins had oil in their lamps, but five of them carried extra oil with them. When the oil in their lamps of the five foolish virgins was used up they had no reserve. It is not enough anymore to just be getting by day by day, we have to carry a double portion of the spirit, in other words we have to have twice as much as we have now.

The process of conditioning

Our capacity for the Spirit of God has to be increased; part of this next outpouring of the Spirit will serve to condition us to carry a much greater anointing and a much greater presence of the Lord. There will be powerful manifestations of the spirit that will heal deep hurts and deeply rooted hereditary problems. Strongholds of the mind will be broken as God prepares many vessels to carry His glory. Some of these encounters with the Lord will be quite violent as demonic strongholds are challenged by the presence of the Lord, the fire of the Lord will be manifest in a great way to purify the hearts and minds of those who submit to Him. This process of conditioning if submitted to adequately will result in the New Creation man coming forth like never before able to carry a double portion of the Spirit. This army that God is raising up will then go forth in great power and authority reaping the harvest.

2 Timothy 2:20	But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.
21	If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.

Blessings
Neville Johnson July 6, 2009

Understanding Controversy

Understanding Controversy Acts 6:1a And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, Wherever Jesus went and ministered, there arose controversies concerning his ministry and the results of His ministry. The fact that there was opposition from His brethren in no way indicated that Jesus was doing something wrong. Controversy has always been present in a move of Gods spirit. When Martin Luther began to preach the priesthood of all believers great controversy arose, however he began a move of God that that set the church on a course of restoration. The fivefold ministry The church has experienced great controversy with the restoration of the five fold ministry, especially the ministry of the Prophet and Apostles. Many were happy with the Pastor, the Evangelist and the Teacher but found it really hard to accept the Ministry gift of the Prophet let alone the Apostle, even when plain logic demanded that if pastors, evangelists and teachers were acceptable you would have to accept the prophets and apostles, they come in the same package. True Christianity through the ages has existed amid controversy and God allows this. Ever since the reformation God has been restoring truth and every time truth is restored to the church there will be those Christians who oppose it. Prophets, especially when they are in the infancy of their ministry make mistakes. That does not make them false prophets it makes them human. We all learn from our mistakes that’s how life is, many of the important lessons we learn we learn by first getting it wrong. Psalms 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.  God is restoring truth As we progress towards the end of this age much more truth will be restored to the church, and the value of truth is that it sets one free. It does this by bringing expansion to our understanding along with a spiritual encounter or experience that breaks off yokes that hinder us. When we truly encounter truth something changes within us. John 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The truth that sets us free is truth that is entered in to and experienced; it is not just an intellectual agreement with truth. May have a knowledge of the word, most bible colleges will give you that as basic knowledge of the bible, however that is not enough. The Greek concept of knowledge was that of, intellectual knowledge detached from experience. Unfortunately it is not uncommon for Christian teachers to teach this way i.e. just presenting facts. True biblical teaching is to impart understanding that carries with it Spirit that quickens the truth, this releases the hearer into another dimension that of spirit which has the ability to bring true understanding thus leading the hearer to obey or practice the truth. There are two Greek words for knowledge which are; gnosis and epignosis; The first means knowledge – intellectual knowledge, the second means knowledge by experiencing it or participating in the knowledge. It is knowledge received by encountering the source. This epignosis is not just intellectual knowledge it is knowledge gained by an encounter with the source of the knowledge and this is the knowledge or truth that sets us free. This is what the Apostle Paul was saying to his disciple Timothy.  2 Timothy 3:7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge (epignosis) of the truth.  Paul was saying there are those who are ever learning but not encountering the truth which changes them. Those who don’t have an encounter with the truth often oppose the truth and this is often the cause of controversy. We can expect great controversy over the next move of God; however we need to be able to stand for truth in an uncompromising way no matter what the cost. Those who pioneered truth faced opposition but refused to compromise, this took strength of character.  Cowards have no place in the Kingdom of God, truth is precious and thousands have died for the truth that we have today. You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free. Let us be open to God as He brings greater understanding in this next move of God as He enlarges us expanding our comprehension of His ways and purposes. Blessings Neville Johnson June 30, 2009

Expect the Unexpected

Expect the unexpected

Isaiah 43:19

Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Making a way or highway in the dessert was something undreamed as well as rivers in the desert.

God is unpredictable

God very rarely repeats what He has done in the past; He is always doing new things.

This is true of every move of God; He continues to do new things. This is why we cannot predict what a new move of God will be like. If we have in our mind what new move of God should be like we will probably not accept it when it comes because it will be different from what we thought it should be like. The Pharisees in Jesus time missed the new move of God because they had false notions of what the coming messiah would be like and what He would do.

Luke 19:44

And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.

It is so easy for us to be like the Pharisees because we all have different mindsets that govern how things should be. It is a fact of history that the old move of God fights and hinders the new move of God. Like the receding wave on a beach hinders the incoming new wave. Martin Luther the recognized founder of the reformation fought the next release of truth which the Anna Baptist brought, that of water baptism by full immersion, Luther went as far as to say that during these baptisms they should hold the candidate under the water and drown them. This process has been repeated generation after generation up to this present day. So why should we think that we are any different? That kind of pride will cause us to follow in the footsteps of history.

God is about to do a new thing

So what will it be like? There are elements that we can safely say will be present, for instance, I believe a new level of holiness we be evident along with many factors of past manifestations  of revivals such as healing, miracles and the reaping of the harvest, however these may not be manifest in the way we think they should be. There is no such thing as “the good old days” and returning to them, as good as they were they are gone and the best is ahead of us.

Prophetic manifestations

Every move of God is accompanied by prophetic manifestations which are signposts or pointers to how God sees the church. For instance in the outpouring of the Spirit that became came known as Toronto Blessing there were many manifestations that were little understood. One of these manifestations was the Joy of the Lord manifest as uncontrollable laughter along with many other similar manifestations.

Something happened on January 10, 1994, at a Vineyard Church near the Pearson International Airport in Toronto that was unique in the history of professing Christianity. While some point back to somewhat similar phenomena during the Welsh Revivals, Cane Ridge Revivals (1800-1801), Charles Finney (1800s), and even the Great Awakening (1734-47), all of these pale in comparison to the claims of the "Laughing Revival" that received its energy, if not origin, on that cold day in Canada.  

On this occasion the Holy Spirit was poured out on that small congregation, resulting in spontaneous, uncontrollable laughter. Thus began a "revival" that continues to this day and has impacted churches throughout the world. Hundreds of thousands of visitors, including thousands of pastors, have attended the services at the Toronto Airport Vineyard (now called the Airport Christian Fellowship) in hopes of catching and transporting the spirit of this revival. And it seems to work. Churches across the globe claimed similar experiences, which, in addition to "holy laughter," include shaking, making animal noises, swooning, and being stuck in "Holy Ghost glue." It has been reported by some that up to seven thousand churches in Great Britain alone have experienced something similar to the Holy Laughter Revival.

How did you react to this move of God? There were many prophetic implications in the manifestation of this outpouring of the Spirit. In one such meeting I witnessed a man on all fours crawling around the room barking like a dog! I said Lord what is this? The Lord replied Isaiah 56:10 ... 

Isaiah 56:10	His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11	Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.

This manifestation was a prophetic indictment of a portion of the charismatic church and its ministers at that time. Many manifestation of being stuck to the floor with people unable to get up were reported; again these were prophetic manifestations speaking to the church. God was moving on but many were still stuck in their old wineskins. The great danger in a new move of God is to criticise that which we don’t understand.

There was a period in the church when God was lengthening legs. Why would God specifically move in this way? Many legs were lengthened some in very spectacular ways. However apart from the goodness of the Lord in doing this He was prophetically speaking to the church saying, the church was unbalanced. Up to that time the Pastor, Teacher and Evangelist were at the fore front, but God was saying to the church this is an imbalance the church needs prophets and from that time on the ministry of the prophet began to arise in the church. God speaks many times to the church in prophetic manifestations that need to be correctly discerned.

We will see many things we don’t understand in the coming move of God

We, particularly leaders will need great wisdom and discernment to be able to lead the coming revival without hindering it. We will need great wisdom to discern the prophetic manifestation that inevitably will be present in the next move of God. Let us not have preconceived ideas of what this next move of God will look like because God will do a New Thing.

Blessings
Neville Johnson June 23, 2009