So now we'll be talking about shifting into rest.
I'm so excited.
So I get very excited.
I don't exaggerate, but I'm a very intense person.
I'm a very, very expressive person.
OK, so when you think of shifting into rest,
let's think of ourselves like, you're
going to remember this for forever when you hear this.
Think of yourself like a balloon.
That's what you are.
You're a balloon.
So it's going to make sense in just a second.
So it's not a very pretty balloon,
but hey, there's something.
OK, so let's use this.
So now let's imagine that balloon,
which doesn't really make sense the way that I drew it.
Let's do it this way.
Understanding this, let's do that.
Because that balloon, so you're a balloon,
and let's imagine that in between the invisible
and the visible realm, between the uncreated and the created,
think of it kind of like an ocean,
that this is that everything under this line,
under the ocean waves, this is the ocean,
and everything above it is the air and the sky.
Well, if you're a balloon, what does that mean?
It means that within you is the very essence
and the very material and the very nature of what is outside.
You're in spirit, and you are spirit.
The same thing.
You are in spirit.
You are in God.
What is in you is spirit as well.
And so a balloon naturally floats on the water very,
very effortlessly.
It doesn't have to work to be a balloon.
You're a balloon.
So you are, what is in you is of the nature of the environment
that you're in.
It's the same material, the same substance, the same element.
And however, this operates, the principles according
to the way that this functions, this nature
is the same nature that you have,
and you operate according to that same nature as well.
So Christ's nature is our nature, and vice versa.
Now, this is, wherever the balloon is,
is how we're going to represent where we believe
that the seed of our identity is.
So in the balloon, effortlessly in operating and believing
that it, and understanding that it is spirit,
effortlessly flows on top of the water.
It doesn't have to try to float.
It doesn't have to try to be what it is.
You don't have to try to be who it is that God
has declared you to be.
You are that thing.
So at this time, let me talk about the new man
and the old man.
We talked about this briefly before,
but it's very important to emphasize at this point.
God says that the old man, the old man here,
that believed that, remember when we were separated from God
and that our spirit was dead?
There was the separation.
There was this veil.
And this was the old man.
The old man being created was subject to corruption.
It was subject to death.
But God says that when he came and he removed the veil,
that the seed of our identity is actually in our spirit.
And it meant that now we are the new man.
It meant that the old man died.
The new man is what we now are.
We are a brand new creation.
And Paul admonishes the church.
And he says, why, if the old man is dead,
do you keep trying to resurrect him?
Why do you keep acting like the old man
if you're not the old man anymore?
You don't have to act.
You don't have to act like that.
I'll just have to write myself a note real quick.
You have not only permission to operate
according to the new man, but that is who you are.
And it is effortless.
It is effortless to believe God.
The new man always believes God.
The new man has never sinned.
The new man always believes God.
So he believes God to the fullest extent, 100%.
He receives all of God's word to its fullest extent.
Naturally, effortlessly, it's never done anything else.
The new man has never known fear.
The new man has never rebelled against God.
The new man is a new creation, brand new.
It's our belief.
That we are the old man that is causing us to make decisions and choices that result in sin.
That result in this belief of separation. That's where sin comes in.
It's this belief that we're actually still the old man and that we're operating according to it.
The reason I wanted to belabor this point is we think that sin is easy. It's not.
Sin is counter to your nature. Sin is very, very hard for you to do.
What do you have to do in order to sin? You have to work.
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Doing.
Instead of being, doing.
In order to sin you have to work. You have to strive for it because it's not natural for you.
If you think it's natural for you, well then you're going to do it.
You think, oh my word, this is who it is that I am and it's really, really hard to be good.
We have it backwards. We're making it hard for ourselves. We're believing the opposite.
Sin is actually very difficult for us to do.
We have to believe a lie in order to be able to do it.
I wanted to free us from that. Sin is not natural for you. Sin is not easy.
The reason that it feels easy is the fact that we believe that that's who we are.
As soon as we stop believing it, it's very easy to not sin because it's not who we are.
If we understand that we're in God and we're operating according to the tree of life, we abide in God.
We just operate according to his character because that's our character and God never sins.
The very essence of God's character is goodness and is love.
That's what you're going to do. Very, very effortless.
That is the nature of the balloon is holiness, is righteousness.
Everything it is that God says that Christ is can be said of the balloon.
Everything that Christ is is in you. It's of the same substance, the same essence.
The balloon doesn't have to try to be itself. It just effortlessly floats on top of the water.
It doesn't have to try to not sink.
For a balloon to sink, that's very counter to its nature.
It has to work hard in order to sink.
In order to sink, what does the balloon have to do?
It has to grab hold of a weight. In other words, a lie.
An accusation against God's character. God's not that good.
God's this good, but he's not this good.
He's this good, but he's not this good. God's not that good.
The more accusation that we hold against God, the more...
We don't know it. We think that we're quoting scripture.
What we don't realize is we're actually saying that we're limiting God's goodness.
We believe that he's not as good as he says that he is.
That's actually grabbing hold of a weight and a lie.
When it does that, the balloon starts to sink.
Right here, think of it again like the ocean.
The further that a balloon sinks...
In other words, if it grabs a hold of a certain type of weight, it'll go down to the soul level.
In other words, it grabs a hold of a certain measure of accusation against God.
It'll take it down to... Think of operating in the soul level.
My identity is more down here. I believe that I'm abandoned and alone.
I'm over earthly laws, but I'm still subject to needing spiritual laws in order to be able to heal,
in order to be able to be healed from traumas, in order for God to bless me financially.
I have to tithe, I have to reap, and I have to sow to follow all of these laws.
Those laws are good laws, by the way, and they all work.
I'm just saying if we think that we need them, we think that we're reliant on them in order to please God
or in order for God to give us good gifts, which he says we don't need anything in order for him to give us good gifts
because God gives abundantly because a gift is about the giver, not the receiver.
It's about the nature of the giver.
He gives abundantly, not because we're doing or not doing something.
Very, very, very important.
If the balloon grabs a hold of some accusation against God, he's going to sink to this level.
He believes, okay, well, God's better than this, but he's not as good as this.
I'm reliant on my knowledge of spiritual laws in order to heal, in order to get somewhere,
in order to battle Satan, in order to be healed.
to do whatever in order to be pleasing to him in my business.
I have to do everything just right, et cetera.
I have ties off of the gross and not the net, whatever
loss we've come up with.
And then if we grab a hold of a greater accusation against God,
we sink further down.
And we have to grab a hold of a heavier weight, heavier,
greater accusation against God.
And here's the point about this that I wanted to point out.
Just like the ocean, the deeper you go in the ocean,
the more pressure is placed on the object, right?
It is a lot harder to live life down here believing
that we're subject to the knowledge of earthly laws
than it is if we believe here that we're here.
The more accusation we have against God,
the more oppressed life feels to live.
So anyway, the very, very exciting thing about this
is that if the balloon grabs a hold of a weight in order
to sink, because it's not of the nature of the balloon.
By the way, I do want to mention that the nature of the balloon
doesn't change.
Even if it's down here, it's still a balloon, right?
So it doesn't matter if you're sinning.
You're still spirit.
You're still who it is that you are.
You're still perfectly righteous.
You're still perfectly holy, even if you just sinned.
It doesn't change your nature that you did something,
but it doesn't change who you are.
You're still the thing.
So if all that a balloon did was grab a hold of a weight
in order to sink, what is the only thing that it has to do?
This, by the way, is unrest, accusation,
separation against God.
What is the only thing you have to do to shift into rest?
Let go.
That is all you have to do.
You don't let go and then have a counteraction of swimming up.
A balloon naturally rises.
It's just a balloon.
It just never stopped being itself.
So as soon as it stopped letting go,
as soon as it let go of something that was counter
to its nature, because that weight is not
of the nature of the balloon.
As soon as it let go of this need
that it felt that it had to something outside of itself,
as soon as it let that go, it still
continued to act like a balloon, and it naturally
and effortlessly floated up.
It didn't have to let go and then try to do something else.
You don't have to, when Jesus told the,
I know I'm using this example a lot,
when Jesus told the woman who committed adultery to,
he said, neither do I accuse you.
Go and sin no more.
He didn't tell her to do anything.
He just said, stop.
That's all I said to do.
Just stop.
You float, and you float to the top.
Because we're, and then we're, and then
we're completely at rest.
So when you, that's all we have to do.
When we have a lie and an accusation against God,
we don't have to bemoan and wail and repent and feel,
you don't have to feel sorry.
You don't have to feel remorseful.
I'm not saying that we don't feel sorry
and we don't feel remorseful.
That, you know, those are perfectly fine things.
Because when we're in relationship with another being,
we're gonna tell Lord, oh Lord, you know,
I'm sorry I hurt you.
But we don't have to feel this horrible grief
and this horrible remorse.
That is not payment.
No payment is required.
God has already paid for everything.
All he told, he didn't tell the adulteress,
go and make restitution.
He didn't tell her, okay, go apologize to everybody.
He didn't even tell her to feel bad.
He said, just stop.
He said, I don't, and before he even told her to stop,
he said, I don't condemn you.
So now that you're in a place of no condemnation,
do you want to do that anymore?
No.
I promise, if any of y'all are wondering about that,
once you shift yourself into no shame and no condemnation,
you're like, I don't want to do that anymore.
Because you choose, I am who God says that I am.
And when you realize that I am who God says that I am,
you realize who it is that you are,
and then you start acting like that.
And that is a new man that doesn't sin.
So this is what we're growing and maturing into,
is continuing to choose to let go
of more and more accusations that we have,
that we are holding onto about the Lord.
And it's very effortless
to start to act according to our nature.
We're not having to,
you know how I talked about the fact
that there's no counteraction.
You don't let go and then swim up.
So when you repent, you just stop,
and then you're gonna naturally shift into,
okay, Lord, here I am.
I'm in your character.
What is it that I would normally do?
You don't have to pay for what it is that you've done,
and then try to,
yes, there is a process of maturing and all of that,
but you're not having to.
Do anything to get back into position.
You're automatically in the position as if you never left,
you know, like the prodigal son, being welcomed back in as if he never left.
This is what the prodigal son did.
He thought he was abandoned and alone, and he asked for all of his inheritance
so that he could use it as tools to provide for and protect himself.
And when he realized it led to nothing but death, he goes back to the Lord.
And then the older brother actually did the same thing
in the fact that he had everything.
He was given everything by the Lord.
He was given 100%, and he was part of his father's estate,
but he never received it.
He had all of it and never received it.
So he didn't get to benefit from it.
Father, why haven't you thrown a party for me before?
Why haven't you given me your robe?
Why haven't you killed the fatted calf for me?
And the father's like, I don't understand.
I did.
It's all here.
You can have it whenever you want.
He didn't receive it.
The prodigal son chose to receive it.
It's all about receiving.
It's not about what one person did or didn't do
and how much one person did or didn't do.
You can't earn it.
Everything from God has to be freely given
and freely received.
Everything in the spirit, everything in heaven,
has to be freely given and freely received.
Everything.
You cannot work for any of it.
You remember that this was symbolized with the Israelites
and the fact that the priests would wear linen
because it would keep them from sweating
because sweat, which in Scripture symbolizes strife
and working and earning,
sweat could not enter the presence of God.
So if we've worked for it, we can't have anything in spirit.
We can only receive things of the spirit
by simply receiving it.
So everything has to be freely received.
That is how you go from 36 to 60 to 100
is to understand that there's nothing that you do
that qualifies you
and there's nothing that you do that disqualifies you.
Everything.
At this point, Jonathan, could you pull up Deuteronomy 2?
I don't remember where it starts,
and we're not going to read the full thing,
but I just kind of want to point this out.
Remember in that same, before we were talking,
we were referencing Deuteronomy 4
where Moses was talking to the second generation
of the Israelites that had left Egypt
and he was reiterating for them,
hey, look, this is the history and the story
of your ancestors, of your fathers,
and he's urging them to make a different choice.
So he goes through here.
Thank you.
So I recommend looking at Chapter 2.
It's entirely too long for us to read,
but I wanted to point out three things.
So let's see here.
Okay, look at verse 4.
Give the people these orders.
The Lord's talking to Moses.
You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives,
the descendants of Esau who live in Seir.
They will be afraid of you, but be very careful.
Do not provoke them to war,
for I will not give you any of their land,
not even enough to put your foot on.
Then later on, it talks about if we could go down to,
yeah, if we could go down to like 9 and 10 and all that,
then God says the same thing about the Moabites in verse 9.
Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war,
for I will not give you any part of their land.
By the way, the Moabites were descendants of Lot.
Remember, Lot had two sons by his daughters,
Moab and Ammon.
And so the Moabites and the Ammonites
were of the descendants of Lot in the end.
Esau was of the descendants of Isaac.
So anyway, so these are relatives,
but they are not the chosen.
They're not the chosen firstborn.
So they represent for us here the Gentiles.
So he's talking about the fact that the,
and we'll put it into current contemporary terms.
He's saying that the sons of God do not have,
so to speak, that the Christians or the Jews,
we'll just keep it as the Jews, it's probably just easier
and then you can make the connection,
that the Jews are not allowed to have
any of the Gentiles' land,
even though that they're their brothers
and that the Jews are the chosen ones
because it mentions here,
and it mentions this about all three,
but we'll just talk about the Moabites.
You can go and look at the chapter later by yourself.
Looking at nine again, do not harass the Moabites
or provoke them to war.
I will not give you any part of their land.
I have given R to the descendants of Lot as a possession.
The Emites used to live there, a people strong and numerous
and as tall as the Anakites.
The Anakites were the giants that the Israelites
encountered in Canaan and said were too large,
and God said, no, no, no, we can go in
and we can annihilate them.
I've given you the land, I've given you victory,
and he said, no, those Anakites are too,
they're too tall, they're too large.
We were grasshoppers in their sight, we can't do it.
But the Moabites were not even given
that same promise by God,
and yet they believed that they could conquer the Anakites,
which they did, so like the Anakites,
they too were considered Raphaelites,
but the Moabites called it Nehemiah.
And then, okay, so this is just enough, I think,
to just drive the point home.
You can go and look at the chapter later,
but what we just read about Moab,
he mentions about the Ammonites,
and he also mentions that about the Edomites,
that all three of those people groups,
it never mentions in there that God gave them a promise,
but all three of these non-believers
believed that the land could be theirs
and that they could conquer the Anakites.
It never says that God even gave them
a promise that they could,
and yet they believed that they could,
they chose that it was theirs,
and because they chose it, it says point-blank,
God gave them the land.
So God honored the fact that a non-believer
believed that they could have something,
believed that they could be given a gift,
but the Israelites did not believe
that they could be given that gift.
The Israelites rejected this,
they said, no, we can't,
even though we've been given the promise by God
that we can be assured of victory,
we do not believe that we can defeat the Anakites.
So they received God's promise,
but they received God's word,
but they chose to not receive it,
but the others actually believed that they could,
and so to honor that, because God said,
yes, I am that good, I am that good of a father,
and I will give you the land to the point
that the Jews are not even allowed to take,
what did they say?
Put a, take even a foot of it,
which I thought was really fascinating
because they're God's chosen,
but he honors the fact that the non-believers
believed more than the believers did.
So that is why, we're gonna get into,
hopefully it's not too touchy of a subject,
but that is why a lot of non-believers
are learning more things about the spirit realm
and doing things than we are.
They believe it, and we don't.
If it's there, if it's there, you know, God gives us,
God has created particular principles,
and we're supposed to operate according to those principles,
the scholarly principles, that character of who it is
that he actually is, excuse me,
and operating according to who it is that he actually,
that he is, not trying to go around God
and use his principles for their own selfish devices,
you know, their own selfish interests or whatever,
or making some kind of an agreement
or a covenant with Satan himself
or some other spirit being,
like, you know, a demon, a fallen angel, you know, whatever.
And that is how they're able to do a lot of these things.
But why does it work?
Why non-believers are out there healing.
They're having huge conferences and healing
because they believe that God gave it.
Now, they may not call it God, they may not believe in God,
but they believe that it's possible and it's happening.
But we're not believing that it's possible.
We're not believing that God has given it to us,
even though God told us,
point blank in the Bible, that it's ours and we can have it.
We don't believe it.
So remember, when we're in God,
there is nothing to be threatened by out there.
We don't want to be a part of anything
that has some evil spirit.
connected with it that is operating according to a source outside of God
that is trying to operate according to the spirit of man or the spirit of the
demonic or whatever we don't want to have any part of those but just because
we don't want to have a part of the groups that are choosing those at their
source from which they they use God's principles does not corrupt God's
principles does not corrupt his original ones so what we just need to do is we
need to ask the Lord Lord will you guide us back you know through through your
word through your word in scripture through your word and you know in in my
spirit and in my heart show me what the your original your original principles
are the good things that I may stand in those because I'm watching the
non-believers have the inheritance that you promised me we had they believed
that they could have an inheritance and they got it and they weren't even
promised it we were promised it and we're not choosing to be able to receive
it so my point is not is not condemnation like well you know we
should feel bad that's not my point my point is oh my word then it means that
we have permission we have it and it's okay and we can pursue it we always
pursue it in the Lord but we can pursue it remember we're not coming up with
what do I want to do how do I want to live life I'm gonna be able to manifest
that sounds really cool absolutely positively not what does God say but
that we need to choose and if he talks about he talks about being able to lay
hands on people and then being healed or whatever if he said it then we can
believe it so we're not listening to secular teachers who are who are you
know talking about trying to do things outside of using God as the source
because that's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but when we operate
according to who it is that God himself is we can operate in operating according
to his character we can operate according to the principles that and he
our own God and set in motion and it was our God who he would have performed
miracles and even even the Egyptians remember performed some of the same
miracles that Moses was doing right that they can use those same those same
spiritual laws so to speak that Moses was using but Moses was doing them in
God and so he was doing them according to the tree of life and they're doing
them according to the tree of knowledge of good and evil for examples of this
this this discussion so that's why as they eventually win is they eventually
went on Moses is because it was done in life it far surpassed that which
eventually led to nothing but death right so anyway it does it does
originate with our God there's nothing out there that Satan that Satan for
simple explanation there's nothing out there that Satan created God created
things he is he's amazing he births things Satan takes things that God
originally created and then twists them so just because and there's a twisted
version out there does not mean that's the only version doesn't mean that it's
the original version so I just say all those things you know just take this
before the Lord my point in telling you all that is to to to just to help us to
start expand our expand our minds to read scripture what does God say and to
believe it to its fullness and we can only operate in according to the measure
we can only operate according to the measure of the fullness to which we're
receiving that word okay now going back to oh well let me let me finish this
really quick so your God gives good gifts to all of us simply because and
this is very important in it and to understand in shifting out of unrest
interest it's very important that we understand that we nothing that we do
qualifies us and therefore nothing that we do disqualifies us our God gives
abundantly to everyone he reigns on the good and the evil so therefore God reigns
on people regardless of their behavior it's like oh well I'll rain on their
crops and I'll rain on their crops it has absolutely nothing to do with what
it is they do and whether or not they believe me whether or not that they've
chosen me very very important so as we're learning to shift interest and
we're learning to believe that God is who he says that he is it's important
that we choose that to choose to understand that he gives an abundance
because what a gift is all about the giver it's not about the receiver it's
what the giver is trying to express of himself so God is going to give you good
gifts and you can expect good gifts in your life in your spiritual life in your
physical life in your in your soul life
If you're in the metaphysical, this is the metaphysical realm.
So spiritual, metaphysical, physical.
In the metaphysical realm, in all of the realms,
God can give and does give abundantly very good gifts
because it's who he is.
And he wants to be allowed to be himself.
Remember that that's the best way to love someone,
is to allow them to be who they are.
Instead of dictating to them, this is how I receive love.
This is how I want to be loved.
God, I want you to do this for me,
and I want you to do this for me.
Why aren't you doing this for me, God?
You don't love me.
Because if you loved me, you would do these things.
And God's like, no, I've created for you
for a relationship with me.
I'm trying to show you who it is that I am.
Allow me to love you the way that I want to love you
because I'm giving you me.
If that's me, I will give it to you.
So that is the type of relationship
that we agreed upon in covenant with him
that we desire to join.
But so we have to understand that God gives and choose,
that God gives abundantly regardless
of whether or not you're choosing him.
Because the Moabites, the Ammonites,
and the Edomites did not choose God,
and God gave to them abundantly.
So if you don't feel that God is giving,
there's a lot of people that we know
or that we hear about or whatever
that the world would term as very evil and wicked people,
doing evil and wicked things,
and they are being blessed beyond measure.
Now, it's all gonna lead to death
because there's no life in it,
but the thing is they get to have it
because they don't know why not.
But we come up with all of these reasons
in our own life of why not.
So release yourself from the why not
and allow God even without you having,
choose that even without you choosing him,
because you believe that he is God,
you believe that he is who he says that he is,
that he is, that he's good and that he's loving
and that the essence of his character
is to give good things abundantly,
you will receive good things abundantly
even without choosing him.
Choose that first, choose that he is who he says that he is
even before you choose how much of himself
that you want to expose yourself to.
It's very, very important
because God takes union very, very seriously.
But we see here that God's like,
no, I want you to choose that I choose to believe me.
One, it probably the most famous,
yeah, famous, well-known of Chris Blackaby's sayings
that people quote over and over and it changed my life.
If I just repeat that one thing over and over,
it's really helped me in my relationship with the Lord.
If I'm struggling in my relationship with the Lord,
I remind myself of this.
So the way that Chris words it is belief
is God's love language.
If you want to love God, you believe him.
Because how do you love someone?
You receive them.
God is saying, I'm giving you my word.
What does he require?
He say, I want you to receive my word.
What is receiving a word?
Receiving is believing, that's how we receive.
He gives, he wants us to receive.
Word, how do we interact with word?
How do we receive word?
We believe it.
So it all works together.
That's why belief is God's love language.
He says, I'm invisible.
So the only thing I'm giving you is word.
So how do I know, I want you, my lover, to receive me.
So if I'm giving you word, how do you receive word?
You believe it.
That's why he likes to phrase it as,
and I think it's a very, very poignant phrase,
that belief is God's love language.
And if I remember that in very, very difficult times,
I'm like, then that's what I choose, God.
I believe you.
And I believe it, not because I feel it,
I believe it because I choose it.
We'll talk about that tomorrow.
How to have faith without believing.
But faith is actually a choice.
So was there anything I wanted to say before I move on?
Now, the,
in, okay, so I talked,
just mentioned this real quick.
So this, if we're down in the solar in the body,
we're in a state of resistance.
Because the balloon, its natural tendency is to be buoyant.
So its natural tendency is to be tall,
to float up or whatever,
but this weight is pulling it down.
So there's resistance.
So if we're acting in resistance against our own nature,
we're acting in resistance to the word of God,
to who it is that he's declared us to be.
So this area here is a state of resistance.
So I guess I'll write that.
So now maybe you see a bit more about why
I keep calling it resistance.
It's not your nature, so we're fighting it.
We're constantly fighting who it is that we are.
And who it is that we are lines up with who God says that we
are, remember said, God's word.
So it's resistance.
And then this right here, this ocean line,
kind of think of it like a division.
We have to pass down through the water
and then back out this water line when we come back up.
This, see this more like as the releasing.
The release, which is also known as the veil,
which is also known as death.
All death is is releasing.
That's all it is.
God removed the sting of death.
Why was death bad?
Death was bad because there's lack on the other side.
Because in life, that's why he says,
we came to give us life eternal.
That's the opposite of death where
there's lack on the other side.
There's nothingness on the other side.
The sting that was in death was lack.
Because after you have death, it means you have nothing.
But God said, no, no, no, there's
no more nothing on the other side of death.
That's the sting that was removed.
So when we still go through what we'll call death,
even though Jesus didn't acknowledge death,
he did not like to acknowledge death when he was talking.
But for, it's a quick example of how to kind of see this.
There's an element in which if we have,
in Christ there's no more, there's no death.
We don't have to go through death.
But if we have grabbed a hold of a weight
and we now believe we are different than who God says
that we are, in order to let that,
we have to go through a process of releasing.
It's very easy.
We don't have to do anything.
We just have to stop whatever it is that we're doing.
That is the release.
That is passing through the veil.
That is death and it's instant.
You can shift into rest in an instant.
That veil is not very big.
It's just this little transition.
All it represents is a transition.
It's not a place that you are.
You're in the ocean or you're in the air,
but you're not in the waterline.
You're just, you go through it.
It's just like, it's just the division.
Death is the same thing.
It has no substance to it, nothing.
It's simply a marker of a transition
and all the transition is you're letting go.
You don't let go and then go through death.
No, that is the death.
That's why it hurts.
So we don't want to let go.
So when you're going through a struggle,
when you're going through pain,
that is God triggering you, inviting you to let go.
And we're saying no.
And we're holding onto it.
Because we're fighting and why is there a struggle?
We're fighting our own nature.
We're wanting to let go, but we're not letting go.
We're wanting to let go because it is who we are.
So it's our spirit and soul fighting.
We see this in Jesus.
So Jesus, you know, is an example to us.
Jesus had to overcome his own body
in order to prove to us that we could do it.
So Jesus had to overcome himself.
Now, overcome his own flesh, it said.
Understand, Jesus never sinned,
but he still had a body that was subject to,
he was born into a body that was subject to corruption.
And we know that he suffered
and we know that he struggled through his life
because it says he learned obedience
by the things that he suffered.
Then in the Garden of Gethsemane,
he was struggling so much that the capillaries,
you know, right underneath his skin,
right next to his sweat glands, in very extreme stress,
they will burst and you will sweat blood.
He was under that much stress of the struggle,
but he always made the right decision.
But there was still a war in spirit and soul.
How do we know that?
He said it.
Remember, he went to the disciples.
And there's a lot of times that people think
that he was talking to the disciples.
I believe he was talking about himself.
He said, you know, he was urging them, you know,
please stay awake and please pray for me
because he said, the spirit is willing.
My spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.
We keep thinking we're saying, well, my goodness,
you know, I know you wanna stay awake,
but I know your body's weak and you wanna go to sleep.
He's not talking about the disciples.
He's talking about himself.
That's why he needs prayer.
He needs to be stood with.
He said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
God came down as our example saying, you know,
I never sinned, but I lived a life proving to you
that you can overcome.
He overcame his own body.
He overcame his own soul,
always making the right decision,
never choosing to act in belief
that he was separated from God, and he overcame.
He brought everything into alignment.
So when he died and rose again, he had a spiritual body
because everything was now finally in alignment.
That's why his body still had the scars.
It's the same body, but it was spiritualized because it overcame, and everything was finally
in alignment.
But he had to overcome.
He had to bring everything into alignment, and his soul was struggling.
So it's not that Jesus was sinning, but it's the fact that his soul, being born of creation,
still was subject to corruption.
And it had to be overcome.
It had to be given life.
Remember the invisible redeems the visible.
So I'm going to point that out.
There was something else I was going to say about that.
I don't know if there was.
Where was I going with that?
Oh, and then, yeah, and then receiving.
So up here, you know, in the spirit, once you shift from resistance into releasing,
now you're at a place where you can receive.
This is known as being at rest, being in a place of rest.
Receiving is rest.
There's nothing left to do.
Open-handed, and you let it come, but it's vulnerable, because you have to be open, and
you're no longer in control.
Okay, so I wanted to point this out.
I asked my sister, because she came from Dallas, where my parents are, and so I have all my
stuff in storage at their house, and I was like, hi, I worked with her and my dad, okay,
can you bring that sign?
So this is a sign that this has been my favorite Bible verse for I don't know how long, probably
at least since I was in high school, maybe younger, because you know from me giving y'all
my testimony that I felt under so much oppression, so much bondage, life was just hard, and I
didn't know the word I was looking for, but now I know the word I was, what I was wanting
was rest.
My soul was longing for rest.
Why did I want to, why did I yearn for rest?
Because my spirit knew what it was.
It knew what to yearn for, because it was familiar with it.
It is who it is that I was, and I wasn't operating according to who it is that I was, so I was
yearning for something that I was made for.
I was yearning for who it is that I actually am to be made manifest.
My soul wasn't allowing myself to have access to my spirit, and because it was afraid of
it, because my spirit is in agreement with God, and my soul is afraid of God, so I was
afraid of my own spirit.
I don't feel safe with my own spirit, so anyway, I've always loved this verse because I could
just feel peace in it.
I felt like instead of all of those scripture verses that gave me commandments of things
that I had to do and let me know how far I was failing and what it is that I hadn't been
doing that I should be doing, and oh my goodness, there's a new commandment I didn't know even
existed, and should I be following all of the Israelite feasts, and should I be taking
this and should I be taking that, and in this verse, be still and know that I am God.
My God was giving me permission to stop and not have to do anything.
Problem is, I couldn't reconcile that with the rest of how I interpreted scripture, but
I loved it, and it was this thing that I would just hold on to.
So my mom had this sign, and I told mom, oh my mom, mom, I just love that verse, that
is such a cool sign, that's my favorite verse, and so very typical of my mom, she's like,
oh, well then it's yours, you have it, she always does that.
Anytime you tell mom that you like something, you have to be very careful when you tell
her that because she's just like, oh, well then it's yours, you have it, so she gave
me this sign many years ago, and I've absolutely loved it, out of getting rid of 90, 95% of
my things, I kept this.
What I didn't know is something that this was saying that my spirit knew and was being
drawn to, and that's why I always felt at peace when I read it.
Be still, in Hebrew, be still means to let go, to release.
Let go and release, let go and release, and know that I am God.
Union, relationship, receiving of his word, full belief in what it is that he said.
That's what the scripture is saying, be still, and know that I am God, release, let go, and
know that I am God.
I had no idea that that's what it meant until maybe two weeks ago, maybe a week ago, maybe
a week ago, I was like, no wonder.
The Lord, that's why my spirit yearned and longed for that.
God knew he would call me to speak this type of message.
I didn't know this until about, I don't know, a year, year and a half ago.
I didn't know it, but I've loved this since high school.
There's a reason why my spirit loved this verse.
and longed for it because it was planted in me
by the Lord, be still.
So we have permission, instruction by God.
This is an invitation, release, let go,
and know that I am God.
You have permission from God to let go.
You don't have to do anything else.
He just says let go.
Okay, and then you'll notice that the perspective
from which I teach is actually the removal
of things from our lives.
The letting go, not the adding.
Because you already are everything,
you already have everything.
So whenever I'm talking about things,
we're talking, whenever we're talking about
what it is that we're doing here
and for the rest of this conference,
we're unveiling, we're making ourselves more vulnerable,
we're uncovering, we've covered ourselves
with all of these figleas.
I have to know this, I have to know this
in order to protect myself.
I have to know this business strategy.
I have to understand this about relationships.
I have to understand these financial laws.
I have to understand this aspect about
how the medical field works.
I have to know all this stuff in order to protect myself
and my family and all of that.
Otherwise, I'm subject to destruction
and the Lord will not save me and will not provide for me.
We are removing all of that stuff
because there's nothing wrong with you.
Nothing needs to be added to you,
you don't need to change.
You need to stop being all of these things
that you thought you had to be
and stop doing all these things you thought you had to do.
It's just stop, it's just letting go.
That's all that it is.
So remember that I'm going back to,
the last thing I want to touch on is,
if you're talking about that,
the new man and the old man again.
The new man, it's of his nature to do all of these things.
The Sermon on the Mount describes who we are.
The Ten Commandments describes who you are and how you act.
It doesn't tell you something you need to do
that you're not doing.
You know, same thing with all of the commandments
all throughout the New Testament.
They're describing who it is that you are.
The old man is not of his nature
and he has to try to do all those things.
So if you find yourself trying,
that's in the belief that you are the old man.
Stop trying.
That's a very, very big key in shifting interest.
And I just had to learn that
in my own experience, in my own life.
That's how I would realize, okay, wait, I'm trying.
Okay, that's not, that means something's off somewhere.
Okay, Lord, how do I stop?
How do I do such and such instead?
And he began to show me, Ashley, stop trying.
Just stop trying.
And I thought, oh my goodness, no,
because my default, if I don't try,
that's the only way I'm gonna do something good.
It's the only way, it's the way that I've been taught
that is the only way that I'm gonna be successful.
Work hard.
We value hard work in this world.
And it's rewarded.
So if you work hard, if you do these things,
you're rewarded.
And so we thought, okay, well then that's
what it is that I'm supposed to do.
Anyway, so,
it's important that we,
excuse me, just a second.
So we don't have to, we don't have to try.
That can be something that you can use
to kind of give yourself a bit of an anchor
of, okay, what's going on here?
Am I at rest, am I not in rest?
Or, okay, I'm in unrest and I know that
and I can feel that, what do I need to do?
Wait a minute, I'm trying.
I'm actually trying, either internally,
having emotion that feels like it's trying,
or I'm physically trying.
Whatever it is, I'm trying and I need to stop trying.
And that will help you shift into rest.
So it's a very, very weird thing that I'm telling you,
but it is a really big key for me
that actually really works.
Okay, so we're gonna close for the evening.
We'll meet at nine o'clock tomorrow.
We'll be talking about, actually,
the practical tools to shift into rest,
those six things that I talked about.
And these are things that I just learned on my own walk
and I guarantee at least one of them
will always work for you.
You just have to pick which one in that moment,
but one will always work.
So, yeah, we're going to meet at 9 o'clock in the morning.
We're going to be talking about practical tools of shifting into rest, then some other things.
Let's see, I think, what else are we talking about?
I don't know. Some other things. I'll let it be a surprise.
I've got to think about the order that I want to do it in.
I think that we'll be talking about, oh, no, I do know this.
We're going to be talking about how to operate in the spirit.
So, once we're shifted up here, how to begin to live from there,
so we can bring our soul and our body into agreement with the fact that we are who God says that we are.
We're in agreement with our spirit so that everything comes into alignment.
And when everything comes into alignment, it means that we have released creation from frustration.
Because, remember, creation is groaning, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.
It is subjected to frustration, including our own soul and our own body, because it also is creation.
So, we are given, remember, heaven is the Lord's, earth was given to man.
Creation was given to man to have dominion over.
And so we are called to, as the first thing to release from frustration,
the first aspect of creation to release from frustration is ourselves.
Once we have it, we can now then give it.
Once we have freedom, we can now give freedom to the rest of creation.
We can't give creation freedom if we don't have it.
So, we are called to overcome ourselves first.
Move ourselves into freedom by coming into alignment and agreement with who it is that God says that we are.
Then we can release that into the rest of creation.
But, anyway, so tomorrow what we're going to be talking about is how to begin to operate from this place.
So, how do you operate in business?
How do you operate in, I don't remember if we're getting to relationships tomorrow or not, but we are talking about business.
We're talking about how to, how do you just make, not make decisions, that's on Sunday,
but like just how to live and journey in flow with the spirit.
We're so used to living according to structure, rules, and strategies, and formulas.
Okay, so actually we're not supposed to do that.
So, now I have this void.
What do we do instead?
So, we'll be talking about that.
What do you do instead?
What does life look like instead?
What does flow in your life look like instead?
So, we'll be talking about how to operate out of the spirit in various areas of our lives.
And, I don't remember what else we're talking about.
Oh, healing the soul effortlessly through the spirit.
We're going to talk about that tomorrow.
But, right before we go, I want to play a song for us.
And, I would just invite y'all to just receive this.
You know, just listen to it.
And, you know, in light of what it is that we talked about and the fact that we are called to come into agreement with who it is that God says that we are.
We already are the thing.
Our soul needs to agree with it and choose it.
And, then our body will follow wherever our soul goes because it receives its instruction from our soul.
We have to choose that God is who he says that he is.
That he is our protection, our provision, our identity.
That he is love.
That we can fully expect to be liked.
And, we can fully expect to receive comfort when we enter him.
So, just listen.
I recommend, listen to this song.
Just allow it to kind of, I don't know, just, how would I explain that?
Just kind of fill you.
Allow it to move, allow it to move through you.
Kind of, sort of, in the aspect of a prayer.
You're going to hear her talking.
And, her talking to the Lord.
And, so, allow yourself.
Don't engage so much with it that you're like, okay, Lord, I'm declaring this.
And, I'm declaring this.
Because, at least where it feels like work.
Like, oh, I need to do this.
God, I love you so much.
I'm going to commit.
You're at a point where we're still wanting to receive.
So, allow, understand that what she's going to talk about is the natural posture of your heart.
It's the natural posture of your spirit.
So, just receive it.
Just listen to it.
Allow your spirit and soul to shift you effortlessly in your relationship with the Lord.
Without you consciously like, oh, my goodness, Lord, I'm so sorry.
Yes, I do commit to that.
If you want to do that, that's fine.
Just make sure that there's no work in it.
Make sure that there's no desperation in it.
Desperation comes as a result of feeling like one is under threat.
Which is in denial of who it is that God says that we are.
So, enjoy this song.
This one has ministered very greatly.
you to me and I really like it.
So I hope you do too and I hope you all sleep really well
and I'll see y'all tomorrow.
♪ I come out of agreement ♪
♪ With the lie that you have left me on my own ♪
♪ Oh, I am not alone ♪
♪ I come out of agreement ♪
♪ With the worry and the fear I've come to know ♪
♪ No, they won't have a hold on me ♪
♪ Protect me ♪
♪ You'd never, never, never let me go ♪
♪ You said you wouldn't leave me and you won't ♪
♪ You're right by my side ♪
♪ Protect me ♪
♪ I come into agreement ♪
♪ With the truth that you are who you say you are ♪
♪ I can trust your heart ♪
♪ I come into agreement ♪
♪ With what heaven has declared over my life ♪
♪ Cause I know that you'll fight for me ♪
♪ Protect me ♪
♪ You'd never, never, never let me go ♪
♪ You said you wouldn't leave me and you won't ♪
♪ You're right by my side ♪
♪ Protector ♪
♪ You hide me in the shadow of your wings ♪
♪ Your presence is my peace, my covering ♪
♪ My song in the night ♪
♪ Protector, ooh ooh ♪
♪ Protector ♪
♪ No weapon, no worry will prosper against me ♪
♪ No darkness, no evil will tease or torment me ♪
♪ No weapon, no worry will prosper against me ♪
♪ No darkness, no evil will tease or torment me ♪
♪ Oh power, dominion, to what name is given? ♪
♪ My fortress, my freedom, my refuge, my Jesus ♪
♪ Oh power, dominion, to what name is given? ♪
♪ My fortress, my freedom, my refuge, my Jesus ♪
♪ Protector, you would never, never, never let me go ♪
♪ You said you wouldn't leave me and you won't ♪
♪ You're right by my side ♪
♪ Protector, you hide me in the shadow of your wings ♪
♪ Your presence is my peace, my covering, my song in the night ♪
♪ Protector, oh, Protector, I believe in you, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ I believe in you, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ You are who you say you are ♪
♪ You never ever leave, you never ever leave, no ♪
♪ Let the faith rise up in us tonight ♪
♪ Fear is broken off as fear falls away as worry is silenced ♪
♪ At the sound of your name tonight, Jesus, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ No weapon, no worry will prosper against you, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ No darkness, no fear, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ No evil will tease or torment me ♪
♪ No weapon, no worry will prosper against me ♪
♪ No darkness, no evil will tease or torment me ♪
♪ All power, dominion to one name is given ♪
♪ My fortress, my freedom, my refuge, my Jesus ♪
♪ Jesus, all power, dominion to one name is given ♪
♪ My fortress, my freedom, my refuge, my Jesus ♪
♪ Protector, you never, never, never let me go ♪
♪ You never, never, never, never let me go ♪
♪ You said you wouldn't leave me and you won't ♪
♪ You're right by my side ♪
♪ Protector, you hide me in the shadow of your wings ♪
♪ Your presence is my peace, my covering ♪
♪ My song in the night, protector, protector, protector ♪
♪ Protector, oh, protector, oh, protector, oh. ♪
Thank you.