Good Vibrations

Every trying to improve the message I am sending out to my family, friends, readers, and such, I have come up with this!

Get a positive quote every day from me, right into your inbox!

Just add your name here, and Monday through Friday you will get a positive quote from me!

Hey, if our brains are a computer, and what goes is in what comes out, then we really should improve what goes in!

Also, I have begun to wonder about the power of Twitter.com. How powerful could this be to create a culture of people who use it to be a "success accountability" tool?

What if a small group of people used it to tell on themself when they diverted from the goal, encouraged one another to stay focused, or track when they succeed at a success goal or commitment?

I think it could be powerful.

Kidnapped in India

This is a recent retelling I did of my trip to India. Forgive me on the details as this was almost 4 years ago. I just love retelling the story.

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While in Chennai, India, I decided to go out and explore the city with a girl I was seeing. We get out of the boat, hop in a cab, and drive off. Instead of leaving out of the normal gate to the mainland (we were docked at the piers), they take this back route to try to get around customs. There were 3 of the guys. Well, they get stopped finally by these guys, and the customs guys start yelling at our drivers and pointing their guns at them. Not speaking the language at all, we think, 'sure! This is the way it goes I guess.' Finally, the agents drag one of the guys out, and let us pass.

No clue what that was all about.

The car pulls around the corner, slows down, opens the door, and the guy they dragged out jumps back in. They are all laughing, and we think 'wow! Nice Indians foolin' around on a sunny day!' So, we negotiate a rate for the day, and they take us to a stop or two. Finally, we ask them to take us to a stop outside of town, which they do. They stop at the gas station to fill up, and ask me to pay it for them. Confused and growing suspicious, I pay for it. I am sure to tell them that the rate we negotiated is now reduced by the cost of the gas. Yes, yes, yes, they mutter.

Well, we finally get outside of town to our place. We stop, eat, enjoy it a bit, but start eyeing the guys. I am looking for other cabs, rickshaws, phones, anything else. Nothing REAL bad has happened, but they are sketching me out. I would have up and just began to walk back, but I have this girl with me!

Not only did she insist on wearing a skirt (imagine me trying to run with a girl in a skirt), but she is stubborn and won't follow my lead on anything. (We would have already been out of the situation, but she didn't listen to me before!)

So, we get back in the car and ask them to take us home and we will pay them the rate for the day. Immediately they speed off the opposite direction of the boat. For the next few hours they are yelling at us in some foreign dialect. It was quite odd in that they would speed the car up, yell at me for more money, then slow down as if to pull over, then speed back up again. for ever!

One of the men was fully turned around and in our face, constantly going for our bags. Again, I wanted to start punching them, but I had this girl with me who a) wasn't listening to me, and b) I couldn't leave behind, and c) if I started fighting with them, i don't know if she would not be bullheaded and not run away.

So, I kept fending them off and trying to talk them down. After so much time, it hit me to actually pray! So, I did. I really started praying. I don't know where you stand on this, but I started praying in tongues out loud, which agitated the crap out of them because they didn't know what I wsa saying. (neither did I! I wsa freaked out of my mind.)

This whole time they are demanding more money, threatening to kill us, slapping at me threatening the girl, going for our bags while I fend off their hands. It was ok for a while because they couldn't quite get at us in the back seat.

Anyways, something finally struck me. I decided to totally offend them! It had to be God, because I didn't know until later the implications of this.

I finally grabbed the really agressive guy with my left hand, and started yelling at him. I told him that he was a disgrace to India, he was a disgrace to Hinduism, that I see that he had a tika (the little ash dot on their third eye) and that even though he thought he was absolved of his sins that his karma would come back to him, that he was a disgrace to his state (tamil nadu), his clan, and his family.

Fuming, he shut up, swore at me in Hindi and turned around, spitting.

the driver was the only one who really spoke English.

He turned the car around and we quietly drove back toward town. Mind you, my adrenaline is in overdrive, my fists are still up, and I am so freaked out of my mind I am in cold sweats. But here we were driving back to town as if nothing had happened. The girl had visibly fainted more than once, and was now just barely focused on what was happening.

We began slowing down again, and suddenly the aggressive guy jumped out of the car. I figured that they were going to attack us at that point, so I shoved my bag at the girl, pushed her all the way against the door opposite of the guy, ready for them to open the door and fight.

The driver then jumped out of the car, flung the door open, and as his hand came flying at me, I swung immediately at him. He caught my hand in his in a handshake! A handshake of all things!!

he said in perfect English, "This man will take you back to the boat."

Not know if this was a ruse or some mischief, I grabbed his hand and yanked him into me so that I was nose to nose with him. I grabbed his cheek with my left hand and said, "you swear upon Sheva and your state?"

He said yes. I released him.

And off we went back toward town. It was perfectly quiet and at ease. The new driver, speaking almost no English, was just softly chuckling the whole way home.

We got out of the car, ran to the boat, reported it and I didn't leave the ship for 2 days. I was freaked out of my mind. I had no idea what had happened, or how we got out of it. I was shocked.

I was deeply depressed about it for those few days. There is a phrase, IWA; India Wins Again. The ambassador came on the boat and warned us. "India will always win. Never expect otherwise. It will frustrate you. it will confuse you. It will not make sense to you. india will always win."

This burned my butt, and the fact that I had this experience just made this pessimistic US ambassador right! I hated that even more than I hated my experience!

the last day in India came around, and I was still disturbed by my event, but insisted on going out. It was largely uneventful. We went shopping and met different people. Quiet and nice, but nothing unredeeming. As the sun set in that furnace of a place, and we were driving back to the boat, we were all visibly exhausted.

I had almost put the event behind me, and was pondering the dissatisfaction I had with this last outing to really undo the event that confounded me so.

Well, no more than a mile from the boat, our rickshaws were stopped because of train. This train was full on stopped, and blocked all access to the boat for miles. We just had to wait. We were all hot, sweaty, and dripping with the cakelike smog of that dirty city. I was again leading the expedition, and I felt the frustration and disappointment of the team. We sat there forever.

Finally, someone in the group muttered, "Yeah, we can't even get back to the boat. India wins again."

"NO!" I yelled before I could stop myself. "India DOES NOT WIN AGAIN! Don't you see that India winning is a spiritual battle! This is a spiritual oppression on this place!" Suddenly hearing myself, and being stirred by this preaching that was more directed at me than anyone, I felt a warmth all over, inside. The heaviness that was only immediately scattered.

"These events, this place, the frustrations, and our acceptance that this is just the way India is is an indictment against our Christianity! This place is rife with opportunity for something. There is opportunity for change, and hope. God! These people need hope! Look at them. Look in their eyes. They are expecting us to despise them! They long to be 'western' so that we won't despise them! India will not win!"

It was deadly quiet in the group. The train was passing on and nobody knew what to say. I didn't know what to say as I was processing the very thing I had spoken as if it came from elsewhere.

We approached the final gate to leave India soil and get on the boat, never to return. As everyone passed the gate, I couldn't do it. I had no satisfaction. The trip was not complete. I had not learned the thing I had been meant to learn. I had not finished my mission with India.

They all turned to me to see what was taking me so long. That's when I felt a tug at my pants. There was a naked boy, with his hands cupped, looking to see if the gate attendants would chase him away like they had obviously done before. I looked at this boy, and suddenly, like a geyser in my spirit exploding, loved poured out of me for this child. I began to weep. I began to weep visibly. (and I don't cry in public!)

I suddenly realized that what India needed, what it needed from a few Christians, what one simple thing it needed to overcome all the oppression, all the confusion, all the desperation, all of the hate and discord was one simple, little thing; love.

I can honestly say that I had not felt love before that moment, and question if I have felt it sense. It was a love not of me; nothing I could have imagined or felt before. I wanted to hug this child. I wanted to his his very marrow. India would not win today. India would not win in oppressing, or causing fear, or causing apathy; not this day!

I reached into my pocket and pulled out all the rupees I had. I guess I handed him several month's wages in rupees. He ran off around a corner screeching. Suddenly, a drove of children came running, dozens of them. Laughing, begging with hands out. And that love multiplied with each one of them to the point where I felt I would explode like a thousand suns. God said, 'Give it all.' I responded in my spirit, 'but I have given everything I had.' Just the same, I reached into my pocket and pulled out more and more rupees. I pulled out rupee after rupee. I gave them all everything I could. There was what seemed like an endless supply of rupees.

My friends saw what was happening, and they came back across and just started pulling out all the money, rupees, coins, and gifts taht they could. We were laughing and weeping and handing out every last penny. I felt God impress on me that, 'if you give all you can give, and then some, and then some more, I will be the only thing to win. Give everything you have, even unto your life, spent, bleeding and exhausted on the battlefield, because my love will never cease to flow, and will never cease to heal. And nothing will stand up to that.'

They all left, and I managed to pull out more and hand it to the rickshaw driver, and then virtually collapsed. It was too much for me to bear. I was totally exhausted. I could not even lift up my hand. I had wept too hard, and been more moved than I had been in years. They had to carry me back to my cabin, and I slept. I slept from then until the next morning, totally spent. It was more peaceful than anything I could have imagined.

I woke up thinking, Love Wins Again.

From Grace to Faith to Good Works

8“For by grace you have been saved through faith,
and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God,
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:8, 9, and 10

God is doing something in me that I cannot put my finger on. Since really pressing in for praying in the spirit, I have felt “off balance” internally. For a while, I could not string any thoughts together. At the time, my mentor said this was good as my mind was disengaging from thinking (worrying and planning through the flesh) and my spirit was taking precedence.

Then, after a while, I lost all motivation. I lost motivation to find work. (I have had odd work here or there rarely, and it was just barely helping me get by.) I was comfortable with just getting by, but then my mentor called me out about that.

“You need to get over just getting by.”

This didn’t make sense to me. I thought I was waiting on the Lord to do “it”. My mentor has been teaching at the revival in Brandon and over coffee that by grace the new covenant promises are complete.

The new covenant entails total provision, total supply. The new covenant entails total healing, total wisdom, total peace, total direction; as Adam and Eve had it in the garden. All things were restored. Perfect communication was restored. Perfect communion and fellowship with each other and God was restored. Perfect provision, health and vision were restored.

All of that was restored with the new covenant. Man was brought back to a perfect relationship with God, a relationship in right-standing (righteous) by Jesus’ sacrifice.

Well, that resulted in me waiting for God to provide food, shelter, clothing, work or whatever else was needed. I even wrote about a thought I was having about the phrase “birds of the air.” I thought that referred to the ravens feeding Elijah by the brook. I felt that the Lord was taking me through a season of being fed morsels.

I stopped in that scripture just before it spoke of going to the widow. I stopped because I was more interested in the confirmation of where God had me (being fed by the birds of the air) than where it could take me (the widow, who or what group is that referring to; her child close to death, was this the church as a widow separated from her husband with a languishing church; this could go on and on forever!)

Then, I happened upon the scripture in Matt. 6:26 and Luke 12 where we are instructed to look to the birds of the air. They do not sow (work), reap (look for the harvest), or gather into barns (save, etc). Yet, it tells us, we are move valuable than even they.

I took this to mean that I should not have to work. Under the new covenant, by faith (His faith) through grace (as a gift; Gk. charis) (Ephesians 2), I should be able to walk in total provision and total supply without lifting a finger.

Well, you hear protests all the time that say “well, you cannot do NOTHING.” And I have not known how to respond to this.

Even though I believe that God is bringing me through understanding total reliance on Him, for His faith and grace to fulfill the covenant in my life, I also see a need to “walk it out.”

And my mentor articulated this.

“Grant, walk it out! I walk it out all the time. I believe that all things are working for my profit, expansion, and prosperity. I believe that even through the ups and downs that God is moving me forward, prospering me and expanding my territory. I had two investments go sour. I am moving into a trailer near the revival for a season most likely. Are these signs that the covenant is not working? Are these signs that I am not understanding something in the word?

“No! God is still expanding me. God is still prospering me. He will move this forward. He wasn’t caught off-guard by these events. He didn’t cause these events. But He is using every event to move me into more and more of the covenant fulfilled in my life.”

I began to understand that I need to step forward boldly, declaring and believing that God is fulfilling His covenant in my life. I need to not worry about the results, but put my hand to the plow and let God bring the increase. I need to let me be a conduit by stepping forward one step at a time.

So, I apply to 100 jobs, be the best at every interview, and let God choose which I am to get. Some would call that leaving it up to fate. I call it relying on the Holy Spirit.

So, I put out 100 bids on free lance work, be the best bidder and servant, and let the Spirit guide the right clients to me.

I find 100 contracts for low-priced homes, be the best negotiator, and let the Spirit guide the right buyers to me.

I am the best at what I do because I am blessed at what I do. The Lord will do what He sees fit. I just stay focused on the fact that, high or low, He is working out His covenant, His covenant promises, and His spirit in my life. I focus on knowing Him and the price He paid, and the kingdom will come to me. I won’t have to create it.

And, so, reading Ephesians 2 for the power of grace that has overcome sin, destruction, distraction, poverty, sickness and lack of all kinds, I think I may finally understand Ephesians 2:8-10.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

I realized that there ARE works to do. They are not works to achieve any kind of salvation or blessing. They are the works “prepared beforehand” that result from salvation, that result from grace, that pour out of us by His spirit; they are the works that result from us “walking it out” in the power of His grace and spirit.

This is where God has me.

My First Revelation in Years

There is something interesting and amazing going on. I believe I had my first revelation in years about something.

This weekend, my mentor used this phrase again:
“People are always trying to get a revelation to be able to explain it, or teach it, or communicate it. Instead, they should be pursuing it to walk in it.”

Now, there are years behind my little revelation here, and it will sound too simple in writing, because I cannot explain it, teach it, or communicate it.

To better explain it, my mentor began teaching on grace (eternal security, unmerited favor of God) about 5 or 6 years ago. We closed the church after preaching for a year. He continued to work on it. Slowly, God showed him about ‘receiving,’ and at this point it is ‘the now anointing.’

I have been working through how to understand what my mentor means by “now.” I mean, I KNOW what he means when he says that ‘God has already paid the price for every good and perfect gift (grace), we just need to receive it (receiving) now! (the now anointing.)’

I KNOW what he is saying logically, but I have spent so much time trying to explain it that I have overlooked flowing in a spirit of receiving all that Christ has paid for NOW in my life.

We rarely look and spend any time on focusing on aligning our mind and spirit with receiving those things. We settle for being able to explain it. We rarely see it manifested.

For example, if the Word says that God teaches us to prosper and adds no sorrow to it, then why do people not see themselves knowing how to prosper? Of, if they do prosper, why are they usually so full of sorrow, confusion and regret? If the Word says that by His stripes we were healed, why do Christians walk around unhealthy, handicapped, and sick? If the Bible promises that we are now living in the spirit, that we have been set free from the bondages of this world, that we should give on every occasion, that we will be lenders and not borrowers, that if we ask we shall receive, that we are to be Christ’s example here in the earth THEN WHY AREN’T MOST CHRISTIANS WALKING IN IT? Why am I NOT WALKING IN IT?

So, I stop and realize that I have a mental understanding of these things, but I have not aligned my faith for them. I mean, seriously, it means one of two things. A) God is not real or B) I lack faith on these things. (I know that there is a lot of underlying theology here. I assume you can work through some of that yourself. a] the bible is the inerrant word of God. b] you have already tried to live out the Christian life and have messed up as much as I had. etc.)

The Grace Teaching helps us to realize that everything Christ promises we do not have to strive for. It is given to us, free of charge to us. Christ paid the price. If that is true, then every good thing in the word should be mine. But there is a breakdown somewhere. People have not received. I have not received.

So, the Receiving Teaching comes along and says that we do not have to DO anything to receive. We just need to know how to receive. For mental, rational people like me, this has been difficult. What got in my way was trying to understand. To communicate to people what my revelation was, my “click over” if you will, I say it like this.

I asked myself why I was trying to understand it.
Well, I responded, I guess so I can explain it.
Why am I trying to explain it? Who am I explaining it to?
I guess so I can help other people understand it.
Understand what?
My revelation on Grace, Receiving, and finally flowing in the miraculous Christ says He died for.
Is that a revelation for you? Is that manifesting in your life?
Well, uh, no.

And my mind clicked over and I thought, I need to stop trying to understand it. I need to focus on believing it.

I believe that the Receiving Teaching is nothing more than a teaching on BELIEVING in what Christ has said about us. We know it. We do not believe it yet. If we did, we would be manifesting it.

This weekend, getting this “click over”, was more of a revelation. I have stopped trying to understand, and just started to receive it.

And I fully believe the teaching my mentor gave on praying in tongues helped me get here. A short time ago, he began teaching that praying in tongues is the key to living the Christian life that Christ taught about. He believes that “it is the perfect being praying the perfect will in the perfect timing for our lives.” Romans 8:26-28.

Eliminating English from my prayers and only praying in tongues has had the following effect on my life. It has disengaged my mind from the process. I have stopped trying to understand anything. When someone asks me what I think, I find that my mind is pretty much empty for the first time in my entire life.

As a thinker, I am usually aggressively pondering things and trying to explain them and understand them. After praying in tongues a little bit (half hour up to an hour a day concentrated), I found that my thoughts were not formulating any real ideas. I felt boring in that I did not have anything interesting to say. As all of my friends in Lakeland here are building businesses and planning and moving their life forward, I find that I have put down my plans for tomorrow.

I am yielding my plans. I am yielding my ideas of what should be and what shouldn’t be. More and more, as I pray in tongues, I begin to truly zero-base my thoughts, beliefs and emotions. I become more and more a mental blank slate. I am not trying to be able to explain it. I am not trying to build my own life.

Praying in tongues is yielding our mind, and that is the first step to yielding our lives.

That being said, I feel that this weekend I have my first real thought in some time. This mental click-over with being able to receive was, I believe, my first thought derived from emptying my mind from praying in tongues.

That all being said, lets put this together now.

I believe that I have finally had a revelation about Grace for the first time in 5-6 years. I believe that I have a first sliver of revelation about what it is to first receive the grace of God, receive the zoe life, the life eternal. I believe I am gaining a revelation on the power of tongues.

Instead of trying to first understand and then get blessed, I am simply yielding, receiving, believing God will fulfill His work of grace in me, and then, maybe if I am lucky, will I understand it.