Mustard Seed of Faith

And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. Matthew 8:26

I have been blessed as of late with many things of God and once again taken back by the awesome that is God. I have met people and have had conversations that I could not have had without him. I have been given a wealth of words to put to paper that I will get credit for, when they truly are not my words. Dead asleep by midnight and awake again with words to write by 1am.

Through these encounters however I have been given insight that can build towards a bit of wisdom. One of the people that I have had the pleasure to meet recently is a man named Jeff Harsbarger, a man whose walk to Christ was very like my own, he just returned to Christ 25 years before I did. Listening to some of his words a quote really moved me because of the truth of it, “Too many Christians are concerned with reacting to the Devil, when all they have to do is respond to God.”

There is a truth in that statement of true power. I’m sure that had something to do with the inspiration for this topic. I have talked about faith quite a few times, but this time I want to focus on a few different examples. In the Bible, Jesus tells us time and time again just how powerful Faith is, and even among his disciples who are right there with him, how little faith we can have.

Jesus tells us that with faith the size of a mustard seed a mountain can be tossed into the sea. Jesus tells us that all he does, he does in faith of the Father. The only time that he was not able to do miracles of magnitude was in his home town with doubt and fear around him. There were more people that did not believe than there were believers I feel.

Even with that though, he was able to heal the sick. I have pondered on the parable of the mustard seed more than once and I often asked why a mustard seed was used. We are told that it is a very small seed and it grows into a tree large enough for birds to take nest there. In this there is a deeper meaning of why Christ chose the mustard seed.

Each of us starts with a seed of Faith within us. This seed is watered and nurtured and eventually begins to sprout with proper care, just as any other seed does. This begins to grow in us and develops roots. This seed is the seed of our faith. It sprouts within us and begins to grow. Even in its infancy there is power in that faith.

From the beginning we are called to just draw closer to God through love. We are told that we have been brought into God’s covenant and that he is our tower of refuge. We are told that our faith from the beginning is powerful enough to move mountains. We have a hard time keeping this in our minds when the seas are not calm.

Even the disciples had fears and doubts, we are not perfect. Only Jesus was perfect, and we are made perfect through Christ Jesus. I tell you though, Jesus is right, faith the size of a mustard seed is capable of changing the world. Many times it is changed in ways that we do not recognize or realize.

The faith that we have in God is what keeps us safe. It is what keeps us on track with God’s purpose. How can faith of a mustard seed change the world, by continual growth and willingness to listen to God’s will and purpose. Demons had no power with Christ. Christ dwells within us. The demons even feared the Son of God and begged him. How can they have power of us if Christ dwells within us?

Without faith the sea will remain rough. Without taking up your cross daily and walking with God daily we neglect that patch of dirt that our seed is planted in and allows weeds to grow in to choke out our faith. Ever diligent and ever faithful will we keep to what God wishes for us.  I have been encouraged by what God has taught me through the words he has blessed me with. These things are not mine, it’s a God thing.

What keeps us where the devil wants us? Doubt and fear. The only power that he has over us relies in us forgetting that he has no power over us. “Greater is he that dwells in us than dwells in the world.” I may sound like a broken record, but Faith is that important.

When I was an Occultist there was a question that was asked constantly, “How does magic work?” The answer is one that Christians will be familiar with, through the belief that it will be done. It is our human will that puts forth our belief and our faith that something will be done. We believe that we are protected in Christ and have faith in the father and it is done.

It is not that we are making it happen, we believe in the truths that we have been told in the bible and through the testimonies of those far more wise than we are. I am still a toddler in my walk with God. Even at this point though there is power in the faith that has been built within me that no one can take from me, save the Lord.

Job is always a hard read for me because of all he goes through. And I understand that it is supposed to be a testament to endurance and perseverance, but honestly not many Christians want to experience what Job went through. He was blessed in the end, but went through hell on earth. In that though the encouragement that I get from it is just how much of a stalwart he was to the truth that God was God.

Job questioned why God was doing these things to him, but never denied God the right. We are his children. Job stood his ground against the devil and was blessed. I do not believe that all of us have to go through these struggles as Job did, not to that level anyway, but look at how many people were blessed by his story.

I leave with one last point. Your faith is not something to keep to yourself. Your faith is to be shared, go out and share the good news is what we are called to do as disciples. So where is the light of your faith? Do you have it tucked away under a bowl, or do you have it as a lamp for others to find the God that has blessed you? You want your mustard seed to grow into a tree; it is going to need some sun for that. You got to pull it out and that means other people will see it and want to ask you about it. That’s the scary part isn’t it, talking about your story and how you came to Christ and taking the risk that the person will reject you because you’re one of those crazy “God hates fags” people.

I would not be a Christian right now if someone had not reached out to me and shared their story. Pull your tree out of your pocket and let people see it. You don’t want to have a tree in your pocket anyway, watering it really wouldn’t be that pleasant of an experience now would it?

“We are not cisterns made for hoarding, we are channels made for sharing.” Billy Graham

GodForgives.Us

Power of Words

It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. Mat 15:11

The power that our tongue has is one that is hard to understand. How such a small part of our body as a whole has so much power that it is a constant warning throughout the entire bible. This is something that I did not understand until after I began going through counseling and preparing for Deliverance Ministry.

The topic of Deliverance Ministry is a touchy one for a lot of people, but it is one of the reasons I’m doing as well as I am doing right now. During my life wandering spiritually I spoke many things that harmed me and my soul. There are things that I allowed for the sake of understanding, knowledge or power that wounded me deeply.

I profess with my word that these things were wrong and I know that now, but when you are wandering in the dark it’s hard to tell friend from foe. My first steps were in tests. If this flame will change color then there is truth to these words. I wanted to see a response, and I received one. Well if that worked what else will work?

Down the slope I went until I began to allow spirits, demons, into my being. I swore oaths turning myself over as a vessel for the evil ones to use. With these words I allowed them to do with me what they would. It was depravity after another as I carved out sections of who I am and who I was becoming to allow them to do with me what they will.

For my seeking I did receive knowledge and wisdom through my folly. However, by knowing the names of demons, they also learn yours. As you go deeper and deeper into the abyss you see things that you cannot unsee. You learn things that you cannot forget. And you do things that you cannot undo. I had become a man filled with Hate, Lust, Anger, Destruction and filled with dreams of a truly violent death and being happy with it.

I am very glad that things happened when they did. God is good. He warned me to turn away, but I would not listen. Who knows how many demons where walking around in my flesh at any point in time. Was I hearing voices? No… just thoughts. Was I schizophrenic? No… Possession is much different from that. When you open yourself up to the demonic host, you get what they want… not what you want.

All of this was done with words. I swore oaths. Dedicated myself to thoughts and uttered blasphemies. Many of them I can still bring to mind even now. I have not spoken those words in over 5 years, but I still hear them. I denounced my salvation, my right and privilege as a child of God. But even with that, God did not give up on me.

I was the wayward son, lost in the depths of the ocean. He was waiting on me to make my choice and to say the words that he told me to say. All I had to do was ask for forgiveness.

As a fool’s tongue leads to strife and folly (Proverbs 18), only with wisdom gained from folly did I see how much of a fool I had become. I had to be put in a situation where there was nothing to distract me from the truth. I needed my Grey Door.

Upon my release from my Grey Door, my journey was only still beginning. I was a new child of God once more, but my tongue had still opened doors that were not yet closed. I had not done this alone either, and because it was with a union of souls with my wife. We had to be separated for God to begin working on us.

We began receiving counseling. We had a church that supported us as we were a challenge to the leadership of the church. Thank God for Providence Road Church of Christ (http://prcoc.org). We were going to Celebrate Recovery on top of the therapy. Our counselor quickly realized that we were outside her area of expertise and had found someone in the area that works on people with Occult pasts.

Clay Barnes met with us. He was the one that shined the light of the true power of words. In the first session I found myself renouncing oaths with the same verbiage that I used when speaking them. They had to be the same in order to close the doors that were opened. He too felt that we needed something rare. He suggested Deliverance Ministry.

We went into it and again had to be separated. The spirits within myself and my wife could not be removed is we were together. We went through six one-hour long sessions before we were turned back over to Clay. It was a very long process and we came a long way. Still It’s been three years since we finished with that and only now am I speaking about the power of words.

Still now, still so young in Christ with everything that I have seen and gone through. James knew what he was talking about:

“So too, though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts great things. Consider how large a forest a small fire ignites. And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is places among the parts of our bodies. It pollutes the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is set on fire by hell” James 3:5-6

So what’s next? It is time for the truth to spew forth from my mouth. With that said. Mind your tongue; do not let it become wild and untamed. My journey is not one I wish any of you to follow. I was Christian, then nothing. I then became Wiccan then a practitioner of Witchcraft. From there I became a Satanist. I became a leader for the enemy. Then I became nothing once more, which was better than what I was, and then once more a Child of God. I came back home and the Father was waiting for me.

If I can blaspheme his name, renounce his gifts, spit on his image, walk with those that would stand against him and make friends among the demons of hell and he forgives me…. I know he would forgive you.

The Power of Faith

Faith, we are told, is one of the most powerful tools that we have to combat spiritual, emotional and physical conflict or strife. We are told that if we have faith the size of a mustard seed we can move mountains. For many these statements work, they sound great and life you up. For others they just see pretty words. Faith is a powerful thing.

I believe in my Lord God, and I believe in what he can do. In dark times it is challenging to faith. Why are we suffering so? Then we look to the Book of Job and see that faith will be challenged. What Job went through, in my opinion, no man should have to go through. It was horrible and awful, but Job stood true. My focus here is not about strife that one will meet in that regard. No, here I will discuss the power of Faith when you are under direct attack.

Now to get a few things in the open: 1) I am a Christian, 2) I believe in the power of God, Jesus, the angels of heaven, 3) I know that demons and Lucifer exists in as physical of a form as angels, 4) I believe in deliverance ministry, and 5) I believe in what the bible tells us about how to deal with the darkness. The path that I have walked to return back to Christ was not a pretty one, but I learned a lot along the way that I hope to share with others to assist them in life.

The darkness is not to be dabbled with. It will grab hold of you, once you look into that darkness once it will see you forever. Even worse, everything that you promise to the darkness, it will hold you to. Once you find out how bad things are and just want to leave it alone, you can’t just stop looking at it. You opened the way and it will remain open until it is shut, and to do this requires you renouncing the paths that you walked, every promise that you made, every vow you swore to EVERY being you talked with or worked with. This is deliverance ministry in a nutshell.

For the next section I will probably get a lot of criticism from my friends at church because the passage I am about to quote is not one that is in most bibles. The Catholics have this book in their bible and I feel it is a book that anyone that is dealing with demonic warfare should read. The book of Tobit is a book of the Apocrypha, and is a story about a righteous man named Tobit. Tobit was struck blind, and he begins to pray a lamenting prayer begging for death. Well at the same time a woman names Sarah begins to pray a lamenting prayer begging for the same.

Sarah, at this time, had been married seven times, but a demon killed the husband before the marriage could be consummated. So an Angel of God comes to Tobit and allows him to see again, and promises to Sarah Tobias son of Tobit. So Tobit calls in his son and instructs him to go to Gabael to get the family money. Tobias sets off and meets a traveler to go with him to assist him on the journey. So the story goes on Tobias catches a fish and the traveler tells him to keep the gall, heart and liver for they are useful as medicine. He eventually finds his way to Sarah, they marry and the Angel reveals himself as the traveler.

He tells him to use the gall and burn it in the bed chamber and it will drive out the demon.  So the question is, will burning a gall of a fish really drive away the demon, or was it the faith of the follower that put his trust in an Angel of the Lord to drive it away? That is a question of semantics. I am no biblical scholar by any stretch so I leave that to others. However I see that in this story it illustrates things that many other books of the bible do not.

We humans have the power to fight off demons and drive them away. However, our bodies are made of sin, the substance that the demons use to fight us and enslave us. This complicates things. So when things are complicated by man, we must turn to God and his angels. Between the Holy Trinity and his Holy Host of workers, and our Faith in them, the demons can be driven away.  As you are wondering what the point is, allow me to ask you a question, a few actually.

Have you ever experienced a time when more than one person in your home had bad dreams? You ever wake feeling a weight about you? You ever see an illusion of the eye that looked like a round ball in the dark? You ever get angry for no reason and words come out of your mouth that are not your own? You ever do something that is REALLY out of character that you know would hurt someone? These are a few of the ways Demons attack us, beyond addictions, bad habits, depression and lust.

You need to know what to look for; you need to know how to keep your family safe. This is not a scare tactic. I just want you to be aware of the dangers that are out there. I know many Christians out there that do not believe in demons in the physical and real sense. I wish that were true. The demon of depression or the demon of lust; well they do exist, and have names. The angel in the book of Tobit is Raphael and the demon is Asmodeus. Asmodeus is a demon of lust and not a nice guy.

So how does the power of faith help with this? It is our strongest weapon against them. Where the flesh is too weak, the spirit must be strong. And faith is how we strengthen our spirit. It will be forged by our trials and tempered by our struggles. You don the Whole Armor of God, and you pray. You bring the light of God into your home and into your heart. Where there is light Darkness cannot exist.

Once you are prepared you call to God, to Jesus Christ and you call forth their Angels. Ask for the angels to push away the darkness, evil and the demons that are trying to hurt those you love. Go through every room of your home praying this in Christ’s Holy Name. You push the spirits out and anoint the doors and windows with oil that you have prayed over to bless with God’s love and light. Ask for the angels to keep these boundaries safe and secure. Go through every room, every door, every window. Then say one last prayer to let the Love of God shine throughout this home. Welcome to spiritual warfare 201.

Keep the faith strong in the house. Let the love of God flow through it because it is true, “Where there is light Darkness cannot exist.” Sit the candle up high for everyone to see, shine as a true example of God’s love. Know your power, the power we receive through the blood of Jesus Christ. Your faith will keep you vigil. Your love will keep you diligent. Do not fight fair, use everything that God has to offer you, because the demons do not fight fair. With God’s Love and Grace.