I Just Want You

"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth, and does not live in temples made by human hands.  Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." - Acts 17:34-25

I was sitting on the balcony of my mother-in-law's condo on the Florida coast, watching the sun rise over boats motoring across the causeway and birds sailing overhead.  I prayed in the spirit (in tongues) and invited God's presence.  I saw a vision of angels gathering around me in prayer, so I released them to their spiritual assignments in the heavenly realms.  Opening my hands to receive His presence, I felt a surge of energy and heat flowing through my hands.

In that perfect moment, feeling the amazing love in God's presence, I wanted so badly to do something for God, so I asked Him, "What do you want or need from me?"  He replied, "Son, I just want you."

What a freeing statement - to know that God wants nothing more than a relationship with us.  Even though this revelation should be obvious when you think about it, we all get caught in the trap of humanity, where our worth is measured by our performance and accomplishments.  For example, when Jesus was transfigured in front of Peter, James, and John, and Elijah and Moses appeared to talk with Jesus, Peter's reaction was to say, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here.  Let us put up three shelters, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  Peter did this because "they were all so terrified that Peter did not know what else to say." (Mark 9:5-6)

This shows us that our natural human tendency is to do something instead of what God really wants, which is just to be with us.  When you think about your own children, wouldn't you react the same way? Aren't your favorite moments with your children the times when they just wanted to sit your lap and be held? And if one of them asked you, "What do you need or want from me?", wouldn't you also just want them to stay still and remain in your arms? Instead, we get up from God's presence and go about our tasks of doing to obtain favor from God, when all He wanted was to hold us a little longer.

The spirit of the Antichrist wants us to be caught up in doing versus being, and it causes us to be drawn to the false religions that exist today.  Reinhard Bonnke, a well-know evangelist, said this, "When I stand up to preach the Gospel, I often preach to people who have no idea who God is, because they worship idols, very terrible idols.  They spread the table for their gods.  And I tell them, the Christian God does it the other way around - He spreads the table for His children.  And in the other religions, the people always seek God, but in the Christian faith, God seeks man."

Christians can just as easily get trapped in a religion of doing versus being, as we think ritual or works gets us into right relationship with God.  But we'll never be good enough on our own to be in right standing with God - only Jesus, who became sin for us on the cross, can bridge the gap and bring us to the Father in good standing.

Jesus has already done everything needed to bring you into relationship with the Father.  So free yourself from the expectation that God needs or wants something from you - He just wants you!

"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened.  Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.  Then I said, "Here I am, I have come - it it written about me in the scroll: I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart." - Psalm 40:6-7

- Adam Gellert
adamgellert.com

The Living God - A Guest Blog by John W. Nichols

A guest blog from friend and author John W. Nichols:

Once again, I’ve come to the realization that I need Jesus. It’s times like these I’m comforted by the fact I worship the living God—He who speaks, sees, hears, smells, feels, and walks. But I have to confess I often act as if He isn’t present or interested. I lay down at night too many times having settled with rote prayers and not giving Him room in the conversation. If you too ever fall into this, would you pray with me?

“I’m sorry, God, for making You interrupt me instead of seeking You. When I call, I will remember You answer.”

Their idols are silver and gold,
The work of man’s hands.
They have mouths, but they cannot speak;
They have eyes, but they cannot see;
They have ears, but they cannot hear;
They have noses, but they cannot smell;
They have hands, but they cannot feel;
They have feet, but they cannot walk;
They cannot make a sound with their throat.
Those who make them will become like them,
Everyone who trusts in them.

You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord;
He is their help and their shield.
The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us;
He will bless the house of Israel;
He will bless the house of Aaron.
He will bless those who fear the Lord,
The small together with the great.
May the Lord give you increase,
You and your children.
May you be blessed of the Lord,
Maker of heaven and earth.

—Psalm 115:4-8, 11-15 NASB

I need Him right now and I know I’m not alone in this. I need His whisper of direction. I need to look in His eyes and see Him nod while listening to my prayer. I need to hear the woosh of His breath as He inhales my fragrant offering of worship. I need to lay on His chest, like the disciple Jesus loved, and know He feels my adoration. I need Him to run with me in excitement. I need the living God.

Some things that get in our way from experiencing God:

• We do all the talking. We don’t do this with our personal relationships, we shouldn’t do it to God either.
• We don’t listen because we know what we want Him to say or we think we wouldn’t like what He has to say. God’s plans are what’s best for us. Even when we don’t know it or feel it—we want what He desires for us.
• If we’re honest, we don’t make an effort to seek Him, wait on Him, and listen. It’s not enough to say a daily prayer at night or read a one year Bible plan or devotional. It takes a sacrifice of time to seek God with a genuine heart.

The living God wants to interact with us, and we desperately need Him to. For those who want more on this topic along with practical tips, I’ve recorded a 40-minute teaching on communing with Jesus, the ways He speaks, and walking in His plans for your life. It’s called "God is Trying to Tell You Something" and you can get it free here.

John W. Nichols

GodAndYouAndMe.com

Author of GOD is HERE: Finding God in the Pain of a Broken World. Get the FREE audiobook and ebook here.

He Is Not Your Friend - Dealing With Demonic Spirits

"And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." - Joel 2:32

The depression and negativity set in slowly.  Like anything that happens gradually,  I didn't realize I was trapped in it until the chains were too thick and strong to get out of them easily.  As I allowed myself to be convinced of the lies about my worth, my purpose, my relationship with God, the goodness of God, and any hope for the future, I woke up one day wondering how long it's been like this.  I couldn't point to the time when I was happy, or was I ever happy?  Maybe it's always been there.

And strangely, the depression provided comfort.  I could physically feel it blanketing me like a cloak.  And it's okay that it's there, because I'm not to blame for my circumstances - God did this, or my boss, or my spouse, or my parents.  Or if it was my fault, what could I do about it now?  I was winning at some point there, but life happened, and now any hope for getting out of this situation is circling the drain. Like Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, "Meaningless, meaningless, everything is meaningless!"  At least I have heaven to look forward to, so I guess I'll just bide my time with the hand I've been dealt until I reach that place of bliss.

Despite the amazing things that I had been blessed with in my life, all the books I'd read, the freedom classes and programs I'd attended, the songs I heard on the radio every day, and the Word of God I read regularly, this is the place I'd found myself in.

But then I saw a video on YouTube titled, "How Demons Can Cause Negative Thinking" and decided to check it out.  Derek Prince, a pastor who specialized in deliverance ministry until his passing in 2003, had a similar period of depression that he couldn't shake, despite prayer and fasting, and reading the Word.  To become free, he found Isaiah 61:3's reference to putting on "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," and learned that 80% of the battle is realizing that his depression came from a person (demon), not himself.  There are some areas of bondage that originate from our earthly flesh and sin nature, but many times a demon is responsible for the onslaught of negative emotions - depression, anger, loneliness, fear - that we allow into our thought life.  And if we permit those negative emotions to take root through agreement, it can take us down a dangerous path.

The other 20% of the way to deliverance comes from calling on the name of the Lord (Joel 2:32).  So as Derek led the audience in prayer, I prayed his prayer along with them:

"Lord Jesus Christ, I believe you are the son of God and the only way to God.  That you died on the cross for my sins and rose again from the dead.  I now confess to you any sins for which  you have made me conscious, and for all sins committed by my ancestors.  (Confess any sins the Holy Spirit brings to your mind). Lord, I repent of all sins I have ever committed. I hate them and I turn from them.  I turn to you Lord Jesus for mercy and forgiveness.  

If I have been involved in the occult, I repent and I renounce it.  I severe myself from it through the blood of Jesus.  If I have occult objects in my possession, I commit myself to get rid of them.  

Lord, I forgive any person who has ever harmed or wronged me.  I forgive them, just as you forgive me.  (Name the persons you need to forgive.  The one that is hardest is the one you most need to say.).  

Lord, to the best of my ability, I have met your conditions and I now claim your promise: "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be delivered."  I am calling on you now.  In the name of the Lord Jesus, deliver me from all evil spirits.  I hate them.  They are not my friends.  They are my enemies and I command them to go from me now, in the name of Jesus."

Praying over the audience in commanding the demons present to leave, Derek said something I had never heard before: "He is not your friend.  You hate him.  He has to go.  Get out!"

What a strange thing to say! Of course he is not your friend.  But the following morning, while driving to work, I went into my place of depression as I prepared for another difficult day of work.  And I felt myself "putting on a cloak" as I mentally shifted into my now familiar state of depression.  But something interesting happened - it wasn't there! I could physically feel that it was gone, and from everything I had heard the night before in the video, it all suddenly made sense.  It was a spirit that I had allowed to become part of my identity, even if it was destructive.  And it was surprisingly difficult to let go - I even found myself "missing" the feeling when I realized it was gone, because it was an easy excuse to remain in my present situation.  This aligns to other accounts of demonic oppression I had read about, where the first step in casting out the spirit is that the person has to want it to leave.

Do you have any demonic spirits that have become part of your identity? Demons with names like Anger, Depression, Fear, Rebellion, Pride, Loneliness, or Rejection?  Or maybe they are "familiar" spirits that have been passed on to you from your family line with a history of addiction, mental illness, or dealing with the occult.  Pray the prayer I shared above, and tell it to go. He is not your friend.  You hate him.  And invite your true friend, the Holy Spirit, to come into that space in it's place, so you can experience the fullness of joy in Christ.

(For more resources and help with your freedom journey, visit Gateway Church's Freedom page here.You can also view Derek Prince's deliverance video in Part 1 and Part 2, or contact me for any other help you may need!)

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 

- 2 Corinthians 3:17

- Adam Gellert
adamgellert.com

Hating God

"Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their evil deeds will be exposed." - John 3:30

"I hate you!" 

Most of us can relate to this statement.  We remember saying this as teenagers when our parents grounded us, or did anything else that took away our budding independence.  Or we experience hearing this now with our own children, as they react to decisions we make for their own good, and we try to keep them on the right path through correction.

Or maybe while you wouldn't want to admit it to others or even yourself, you hate God, because you didn't have parents that cared enough to correct you.  You blame God for giving you parents that never showed love in their actions or decisions.  They hurt you spiritually and physically.  They got divorced and you felt abandoned.  Even if there is a God, you don't want anything to do with Him because He wasn't there for you when you needed Him.  You had faith for healing but saw your child die anyway.  You lost your job and are struggling to find your purpose.  You tried going to church but were hurt by church leaders and members.  You see the world crumbling around you with death, war, and destruction, and don't see how God can sit idly by while it all falls apart.

But if you hate God right now, you may be closer to Him than you realize!  Hate means to "feel intense or passionate dislike for someone."  By feeling like you hate God, you are at least acknowledging His existence and influence in your life.  You were created with a mind, will, and emotions, so God is not afraid of your feelings of anger or hatred.  He desires relationship with someone who is passionate rather than apathetic or indifferent.

Something (or someone) is whispering lies to you about who God is.  It may be yourself and your resistance to giving up control over your own life.  It may be the devil causing you to question God's goodness in an imperfect world.  Or the enemy of your soul is telling you that whatever hope there was, God would not want you now because of how you feel about Him.  It's too late, you're too far gone. 

But no matter how you feel about God right now, He has a different view of you.  He only sees His son or daughter and wants you home with Him.  He has this to say to you, taken from the song "Times" by Tenth Avenue North:

My love is over, it's underneath,

it's inside, it's in between.

The times you doubt me, when you can't feel,

the times that you question: "is this for real?"

The times you're broken, the times that you mend,

the times you hate me, and the times that you bend.

My love is over, it's underneath,

it's inside, it's in between.

The times you're healing, and when your heart breaks,

the times that you feel like you've fallen from grace.

The times you're hurting, the times that you heal,

the times you go hungry and are tempted to steal.

In times of confusion, in chaos and pain,

I'm there in the sorrow, under the weight of your shame.

I'm there through your heartache, I'm there in the storm,

My love I will keep you, by my power alone.

I don't care where you've fallen, or where you have been,

I'll never forsake you, my love never ends.

It never ends...

(Click here to watch "Times" on YouTube)

As we reflect back on how we reacted as a teenager, or when you see this today with your own children, you know it was just a matter of maturity.  When you got older, and especially when you have your own children, you can see things from your parents' perspective - that they corrected you out of love for you and to try to keep you safe from others or yourself. Or if you didn't have parents who treated you with the love you deserve, it's time to reach out to a Father who can show you what a real parent's love is like.  

If you are in a place of anger and hate, I would venture to guess that whatever you are doing isn't working, and never will.  It's time to turn from hate to something better, to love.  God is not afraid of how you feel about Him.  It may be uncomfortable and you may find resistance to surrendering to someone else, resistance from yourself or something that's holding you back.  But reach out and ask for God's hand, and discover a path to love through his son Jesus Christ, the "way, the truth, and the life."

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39

-Adam Gellert
adamgellert.com

Strengthen Your Position

"Strengthen your position and see what must be done, 

because next spring the king of Aram shall attack you again!" - 1 Kings 20:22

Over the last few years I have discovered the writings of several amazing church leaders that helped usher in the charismatic movement of the 1970s, including Agnes Sanford, Francis MacNutt, and Catherine Marshall.  In reading Catherine Marshall's book, Adventures in Prayer, originally published in 1975, I noticed an advertisement in the back of the book for an intercessory prayer team founded by Ms. Marshall called "Breakthrough."  

Even though Catherine Marshall died in 1983, I looked up the organization on the Internet and was surprised to see that this ministry still exists today.  Processing over 100,000 prayer requests annually, a team of nearly 4,000 intercessors prays individually for the anonymous prayer requests of six people at a time for 21 consecutive days, then rotates to another group of prayer requests. 

Regardless of whether you are on a prayer team or just spend time in prayer yourself, prayer is an essential part of the Christian walk and in strengthening the church body.  When you take time to pray, you are engaging in battle with the enemy in the spiritual realms, and you need to be prepared for battle.  The most recent letter I received from Breakthrough's Chairman, Brian Wells, was one I want to share with you here as you enter into battle through prayer:

"The stories of battles in the Old Testament aren't only historical accounts.  They also point to greater truths, showing how God works in everyday life and providing analogies for spiritual warfare.  I recently read the following admonition in 1 Kings 20:22:

Strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the king of Aram shall attack you again!

I noticed God gave His people three instructions that apply to praying believers today:

1. Strengthen Your Position:  Jesus defeated the devil by knowing the Word of God.  We must do the same.  We must sow God's truth into our hearts by memorizing it, and confessing it with our mouths during times of peace.  Then, when trials and temptations come, we will be equipped to speak truth against the enemy's "fiery darts" (Ephesians 6:16).  

2. See What Must Be Done:  The Holy Spirit grants us wisdom in every area of our lives.  As we seek Him and cultivate a relationship through prayer, worship, and the Word, the Holy Spirit will reveal His will in every situation, showing us His strategies for defeating the devil's attacks.

3.  Be Ready For the Next Attack:  Why should we spend time seeking God? So we won't be caught sleeping!  We must be not only ready for the enemy's attacks - and they will come - but we must proactively prepare for them.  Don't wait for the test or trial to come.  "Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.  The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak," Jesus tells us, His disciples (Matthew 26:41).  Get on the offensive, and take back what the devil wants to steal from you!  Decree the spirit of slumber and stupor is leaving now!"

I hope this will encourage each of you in your prayer life, or help you begin to seek God in prayer if you aren't doing so today.  And if you are looking to make an even bigger impact on others through prayer, I would encourage you to join your church's prayer team, or visit intercessors.org to join the Breakthrough team!

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other, so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." - James 5:16

- Adam Gellert

adamgellert.com

The Power of Threes

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." - 2 Peter 3:8

I took a course on "Emotional Intelligence" at work recently, and the facilitator introduced a way for people to reduce stress from difficult situations they are facing.  He called it the "Power of Threes."

Basically the concept is to go out in time in increments of threes, to evaluate whether the situation you are in today will still be of importance that far out in time.  For example, he told the story of going to the airport with a colleague after a long week and looking forward to finally getting back home.  Their flight was cancelled at the last minute, and they had to spend another night away from home with a re-booked flight not being available until the following morning.

As they were driving away from the airport and their frustration and anger started to well up inside, the facilitator said to his colleague, "This may be a good time to practice the Power of Threes." They then asked each other these questions:

• How are we going to feel about this three minutes from now? (We're still going to be pretty upset.)
• How are we going to feel about this three hours from now? (We will be stuck in a hotel we don't want to be in and still be frustrated.)
• How are we going to feel about this three days from now? (We'll be home, and while still raw, we will start feeling better now that we're out of the situation.)
• How are we going to feel about this three months from now? (It will be forgotten in our day-to-day routine, but it might come up if something triggers a memory of it.)
• How are we going to feel about this three years from now? (We'll probably forget it even happened and it will be a distant memory.)

The point is that if you go far enough out in time, there aren't too many things we encounter in our daily lives that should cause us concern and worry, as it will be something of the past over time.

While I love this concept in dealing with most situations, I also cynically thought to myself, "But what about losing loved ones like the twins I lost at birth - it still hurts and always will.  I guess this theory doesn't apply to everything..."

But that's when God revealed the truth, and I quickly realized I was wrong.  In the view of eternity, even deep loss will be erased from our memories.  When I'm in heaven with my entire family, with everyone I've ever lost over my lifetime, I'll get to spend eternity in communion with all of them, as well as in the healing presence my Creator.  And three hundred years from now, three thousand years from now, and three million years from now, all of the pain we experienced in this life on Earth will be forgotten.  Take comfort in this amazing truth in whatever you are going through today, and with whoever you may have lost and desire to be with again!

"Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not wane; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your sorrow will be over." - Isaiah 60:20

-Adam Gellert

adamgellert.com

Parker Memorial

"Wait, you have two babies in there!"

I'll never forget that moment of shock when the nurse told my wife and I that we were having twins. After almost five years of infertility struggles and all of the pain and suffering that came with it, we had finally had our first child, Emerson, and were now being blessed with an unexpected multiplication of children less than a year later.  Walking out of the room in a daze, it was both overwhelming and exciting at the same time.

Several weeks later, we learned that we were having a boy and a girl, exactly what we hoped would happen.  Emerson would get to have a brother to play with, and I would get to experience having a daughter, after growing up with a brother myself and not knowing what it was like to have a girl in the family.  I watched in amazement as two babies moved around on the monitor during our checkups, yawning and sucking thumbs.  We were rock stars at family gatherings, as neither side of the family had any twins, and I swelled with pride as all of God's promises were coming to pass in even greater ways.  Everything was going to work out perfectly!

But then, at 19 weeks, things took an unexpected turn, and my wife ended up in the hospital with contractions.  I had the utmost confidence that after all we had gone through, there was no way God would allow us to lose these babies.  A family friend had prophesied we would have three kids before she even knew we had two more on the way, further convincing me it would all work out.  We had faith like never before, declaring with boldness that the contractions would stop.  But after several days of ups and downs, we reached a point of no return as my wife's water broke.  She would have to deliver the babies through the normal labor and delivery process, knowing our children wouldn't survive.

I remember seeing them on the sonogram monitor that last time, alive and active, and I was madly in love with those children I had never met.  And now I had to move forward with no hope, sitting by my wife with eyes squeezed shut as first my daughter, then my son came into the world, took a few breaths of life, and passed into eternity with God. It was all I could muster in that moment to whisper a quick prayer, "Father, I commit these children to you."

Still numb from the pain of this loss only a month later, we learned that my wife was, incredibly, pregnant yet again.  The reaction was more fear than excitement, validated by the ensuing struggle to keep our son alive for much of the pregnancy.  My wife was on bed rest most of the time, and we had a few moments of panic as she had to go to the hospital with contractions, hoping we wouldn't suffer yet another unbearable loss.

Miraculously my son, whom we named Seth, made it into the world, albeit with some difficulty and time in intensive care. In naming him, we gave him the middle name "Parker" because we liked the name from my wife's family line.  With two boys and the feeling our family was complete, that was our last attempt at having children.

Soon thereafter, we were relocated to another city, and had never gotten up the courage to visit our twins' grave site where their ashes were scattered.  Returning to the area a few years later, we decided to dig through our box of keepsakes and locate the site.

It was then that we were shocked to see the name of the cemetery - Parker Memorial!

Through all the pain, all the suffering, God shined a light through the darkness, showing me a connection that confirmed He was there all along, through it all. It didn't lessen the pain - as with any loss, the pain will never go away.  We all just want comfort in the loss, for our Father to hold us and cry with us.

Whoever said time heals all wounds must have never lost a child.  Time doesn't heal wounds - only Jesus can.  And the only thing I can hold onto is the hope Jesus gives me in an eternity not only with Him, but also with two children I never got to know in this lifetime.

I am saddened to see people fall away from belief in God because of tragedies they experience, either personally or when they see death come from a terrorist, war, or natural disaster.  We need to realize that God loves other people more than we do, even our own children.  They were a gift to us no matter how long they were with us.  And if we take the eternal view of our lives, all of the pain suffered in this life will quickly become a distant memory, as everyone we ever knew or loved are with us in heaven, giving glory to God for making all things new, for drying every tear.

I was awakened to the sound of my twins playing one night - I knew in my spirit it was them, and was comforted knowing they are happy. If you are hurting from the loss of a child, know they are experiencing true joy and peace, and you will be reunited soon.  Take a step forward, make the best of what God has given you in this life, and look forward to a time when all will be made right, with a God who turns all ashes into beauty.

All I ask of you today is to keep trusting God, and allow his promise of "hope, and a future."  There's a light shining in the distance - it's the presence of God with an indescribable warmth and radiating love.  Your loved ones are already enveloped in this powerful reality, and you are getting closer to "home" each day!  In the meantime, enjoy your life with faith, hope, and love, and ask God for peace only He can bring to those who grieve.

"Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.  For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." - 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is etermal." - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

- Adam Gellert

adamgellert.com