We are now masters of our flesh. We are no longer held captive by our flesh. We cannot even blame walking in the flesh on the flesh because it is still our decision. It is our responsibility to bring this flesh under subjection. If we cannot do this, the blood of Jesus was of none effect in our lives. His blood gave us authority over the flesh. We have to acknowledge that authority and walk in it. We have to choose to be in the Spirit. We are no longer held captive, or in a place where the flesh has control over our life. I have tested this. I have heard the mind and the law of the flesh. I have experienced its desires, but now I can say, “NO!” I have authority over this flesh. I am either going to be in agreement with the Spirit or the flesh. Either way, the responsibility is still mine. Many want to say they are deficient because God is not helping them, but they are deficient because they chose to be deficient.
When we begin to speak on where the responsibility really lies, people begin to back up, and get upset and say, “No, God is going to bring me.” God has already brought us! At salvation, we were already complete. We did not know we were complete, but God has taught us. God speaks to the New Creature. He says, “New Creature, you have to agree with Me. I have made you new.” The New Creature is not at a place where He is held captive by His emotions.
The New Creature can dictate to its emotions. The New Creature can tell the body what to feel and the mind what to think. I thank God for this salvation, because this salvation has given me power over me. If I do not move people, places and things, maybe all I need to do is just move me. If I am going to lay hands and heal, and still find myself holy I am all right. Some people want to preach but do not want to live holy. We must set our priorities in order. The first thing we should concern ourselves with is coming into the fullness of the stature of the man Jesus. I wanted to see who had the power, the New Creature or this flesh. I wanted to see if the flesh could make me do something if I told it no. Would it make my hands do evil, or my mouth speak evil? What if flesh cries all night long but I still tell it no.
We need to know that we have power over this flesh because someone told us we would always struggle. Someone told us that our flesh has so much power over us, but it does not. In every situation we have the power to bring our flesh under submission to God. God is a good God and He is faithful to us as we walk in the Spirit of Christ. He gave us His Son Jesus who, in turn, gave His life for us. Then God gave us the Holy Ghost. We need to look at everything God has given us. We need to be persuaded that He has fulfilled His responsibility in our lives. There was a time when God did not talk to man. The Bible said He repented that He ever made man (Genesis 6:6).
Man had grown so evil but God being a good God decided to reconcile us back to Himself. God gave us His Spirit so that He might live through us. God has already fulfilled His responsibility in our lives. In fact, He has given us more than enough. ALL HE REQUIRES FROM US IS OUR HEARTS. God wants to be loved. The whole purpose of the design was for God to be loved by a family. God feels for us the same way I feel for my daughter, Makiya. I have already given her life but now I want her heart. I want to know that she loves Daddy. I do not want her to just obey Daddy out of fear. It is a good feeling to see my daughter coming up the aisle toward me when I am preaching. It is a good feeling when I take her out of her crib and pull her close to me and she holds me real tight. It makes me feel good when she looks at me and laughs. It is almost as if she were saying, “I love you, Daddy.” That is what God wants.
He wants to see us coming down the aisle saying, “Daddy, we love you. You gave us life, you gave us the Holy Ghost, you gave us Christ and we love you.” God wants our hearts. Just like we can feel when people do good to us but their hearts are not in it, God can feel when we come inside servitude but our hearts are not in it. This is one of the reasons God does not always anoint those things we do.
Oftentimes we come into the service and experience an anointing that meets us at the door. What is that? It is God’s approval on the ones who are conducting the service. God said, “These people love Me so much that I am going to put My anointing on every song they sing, every dance they dance and in every offering they take because they really love Me.” Giving God our hearts is a responsibility that belongs to us. God is not going to make us love Him. I love my daughter but I cannot make her love me. What I can do is continue to learn from the example God has been in my life and be a good father. I can continue to provide for her and nurture her, but the decision to love me belongs to her.
God wants us to choose to love Him. God does not want us to come into His sanctuary anymore and people have to beg us to praise Him. How do you think that makes Him feel? God speaks to us and we have no sentiment towards Him. God will not usurp authority over our hearts. All He is going to do is be a good God. Either we are going to come to our senses and give God our hearts, or one day we will perish and go to hell. If God judges us and puts us in hell He knows that He has been a good Father to us. It is our turn to love the Father out of a pure heart.
Deuteronomy 6:5
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
A man is only as strong as his love for the Father. There have been times when I preached the house down and ministered people into salvation. But even after all of those things, I turned right around and walked in the flesh. Why? Because I am only as strong as I feel about the God I preach about. Many get caught up with the preaching, singing and all those things but a man is only as strong as the love in his heart for God. We can come to every conference and get really hyped up for a moment, but if this message is not in our hearts we are not strong. We are just along for the ride and when the tempter comes, what is in our hearts will come to the surface.
When the enemy comes he is going to find out if we really love this God whom we proclaim. Sometimes we need to examine ourselves. What are we thinking about when we are all by ourselves? Do we still love God? What are we thinking about when we are in our wilderness experience and it is just self, God and the Devil? When the devil offers us the whole world and everything that is in the world do we love the Father then? Do we love Him when it is not convenient for our flesh to love Him? When it is taxing to the flesh do we still love Him? That which is in our hearts determines our spiritual location. There is not going to be a School of the Prophets every day of our lives.
Dr. Banks is not going to be before us every day. But if we love God, the same anointing we feel in the School of the Prophets would abide with us every day. All it takes is a genuine sentiment for God in our hearts. I found out that when I began to love the Father it was hard for me to sin because I did not want to break fellowship with this great God I finally came in contact with. If a man does not love God, he is not going far in God. A man can only go as far as his love for God. Jesus was able to walk on this earth knowing no sin, simply because He loved God. Saints, this Word has to get rooted and grounded in your hearts. Let this seed fall on good soil. Coming to the School of the Prophets is good, but getting from it is better.
We cannot make it if we do not love the Father. We can obtain all the study guides in the world and learn all the operations that hinder our relationship with the Father but if we have a lack of love toward God we are always going to find ourselves in sin. We cannot think our way out of sin. How many have tried this? We set up safeguards, we do this and we do not do that. If we do not love righteousness, and love being holy, then we are going right back to the sin God delivered us from. We have to love this life. The love of the Father is the might of the Son. When we really feel something for God on the inside we cannot let Him down. This is the might of the Son that we walk in. We walk in might because we walk with our hearts toward the Father. That is why we stand in certain services and can say straight faced, “That is not God,” because we really love Him and we do not want to dishonor Him by getting in-line with something that is not of Him. When the hype dies down and it is just you and your heart, do you really love this God? We must become this life of Christ that has been given to us. We are not living this life according to charisma or style, but rather have become it instead. The only time some live holy is when they are in the service because they do not have a real sentiment for God to keep them when they are not in the service. It is hard to keep a godly conversation when we do not have a godly sentiment toward God.
It is easier to talk about what she has on or what he looks like and what this one is doing because those who are in the flesh shall mind the things of the flesh and those who are in the Spirit shall mind the things of the Spirit. I do not have time to worry about what he or she has on, who likes whom or what this one is doing. I am thinking, “God, what do you want to do on the earth today? What do You want to use this vessel for? Where do You want to take us God?” If we do not love the Father we will leave the service and go right back into a carnal conversation. Someone may have just told us to keep our conversation holy but we cannot do that if our heart is not there. We are afraid to be what we are.
We are afraid people are going to say we think we are all that and why are we trying to be so high, mighty and godly? Well, that is what we are . . . high, mighty and godly. So why do we have to come down to this natural level? Why do we have to come down to talk about things that do not edify? The Word says that two cannot walk together unless they agree. Well, by now some of you are saying, “Michael, I know I do not love the Lord with all my heart, but how do I get there?” We sin because of a lack of love for the Father. I am tired of being in the trenches by myself. My mind led me astray because I did not have enough love for the Father to help bring my mind into submission to His Word. My mind seemed stronger than me. If you find yourself with a lack of love for the Father it is because you do not know Him.
However, you will never know Him while walking in the flesh. This is why God sent Christ so we can all be in Christ that we may know God. We do not know God without Christ. When we walk in the flesh God becomes a figment of our imagination. That means whatever our imagination comes up with about God that is what we say God is. This is why walking in the Spirit is essential. When we walk in the Spirit we walk in Christ. We feel what He feels for the Father. This is what keeps us in check. This process gives us fellowship with the Father and causes us to know Him. When we walk in the Spirit we know the heart and mind of the Father. We are not left to our own wiles or our own intellect any more. I hate coming to a place in life where I have to decide which way to go. I hate not knowing automatically where to go, especially if you have a family following you.
If I allow Christ to be the Father and the husband, then I cannot go wrong. If I try to work things out and prove that I am the man, we are all in trouble. We are always “doing” church, but never really experiencing what church is. When the sons of God come together there should be a celebration taking place. When we get with our brothers or sisters in the Spirit we should be motivated to praise God. Church is the hospital for the one who is heavy laden and burdened down sick with spiritual diseases. Church is a hospital for the mother struggling with her child. Church is direction for the man who does not know which way to take his family. Church is for that family that is all broken up. Church should bring them together. Church should heal, deliver and set free. Church should have the power to heal the afflicted and the overtaken. That is what church is supposed to do.
However, if those running the church service are not operating in the Spirit, then church becomes another activity. The broken family remains broken. The confused father leaves confused. Who told you that you can do this thing in the flesh? Who told you that you can bring unity to those who are broken? Who told you that you are able to heal? Who told you that you could preach and teach? CHRIST DOES THE WORK. Christ knows every one who comes into this house of faith. Only He knows how to meet each one in their circumstances, situations and relationships. In the flesh we do not know Him nor do we love Him.
1 John 1:3
That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
The devotional leaders praise God out of that which they have seen and heard. Portraits dances unto God out of that which they have seen and heard. The reason they are doing this is because they have fellowship with God. Leaders have to continue walking in the Spirit so you can have fellowship with the Father. John says we minister out of what we have experienced. We cannot bring you into fellowship unless we see God. We minister in Him that you may have fellowship. If we do not walk in the Spirit all our ministering is in vain. We must promote fellowship through walking in the Spirit just as John did.
The disciples ministered from what they had actually seen, heard and touched. When we minister from this standpoint it provokes others to come into fellowship too. When we minister from what we have seen, heard and touched we offer life, Christ Jesus the one who was from the beginning. When the vessels God chooses to use walk in the Spirit, God is then able to come down and touch men just like He did two thousand years ago. God desires to be among His creations.
When we walk in the Spirit we can give the whole world an audience with God. We should not be satisfied until we all come into the unity of the faith, the fellowship of the Spirit and the fullness of the stature of the man Jesus Christ. We should not be satisfied until we hear people say, “God is walking among men.” The Word was made flesh and walked among us and that is exactly what He is doing today.
1 John 1:1-2
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
The first thing John mentions in this chapter is how he was exposed to “That Life.” We need to tell people about “That Life” that knows no sin and can exist in turmoil and adversity. If we do not walk in the Spirit our ministering is mere speculation. If we have touched Christ, we can reveal Him to others. If we have seen Him, we can tell others what He looks like. This is what will minister to others. We must walk in what we are ministering so when we touch men it is really God touching them.
God wants the Word to be made flesh. He does not want flesh holding the Word in unrighteousness. He wants the Word to walk among men. When we walk in the Spirit we bring the answer to people’s problems. Once we have seen, touched and handled the Word in the Spirit we can now minister to others from our own conviction because we have touched Him and we know He is real. No one can take that knowledge from us.
I love you with the Love of Christ Michael Thomas, Apostle of Jesus Christ
