Now the fun begins! Up until this point the struggle has been real. Although you may have experienced so many wonderful victories to be celebrated, it is at this point where the benefits of being absolutely free begin to take hold of your entire life. Phase 10 is: Your true self will start to emerge, and you will begin to experience freedom, peace, joy and enter into His Rest. Up until now, burdens and lies of the enemy have kept you bound up inside. As a result, you might have continued in your own way to try to fit in or measure up to a standard that you thought was there. Now that those lies, and feelings have been vanquished you truly understand your worth to God and that you were fearfully and wonderfully made. (Ps 139:14) God made you perfect in every way and being you is who he always wanted you to be. In this relaxed state you start to look at yourself differently. You have the freedom to acknowledge the things you do like and the things you do not, the gifts you do have and the gifts you do not. You start to genuinely appreciate who God created you to be. You are a completely unique individual and valuable beyond measure. You are a one of a kind and that makes you priceless to your creator and to you and if anyone does not get that, well too bad for them.
For so many individuals they have been so lost in the lies of the enemy that they have lived most of their lives not really having any connection to the amazing individual that God created when He formed them in their mother’s womb. Now that the lies have been replaced with the truth this phase is an incredible season of self-discovery. Jesus stated: “unless you become like one of these children, you will not be able to even see the Kingdom of God.” (Mat 18:3) The amazing thing is, the Kingdom of God is within you. Always has been from the moment you first believed. It just needed to be unlocked. Ask the Holy Spirit to begin to guide you towards your true self. For some you may journey back to your early childhood and reawaken your original spontaneous personality. For some, you will take back up interests that you thought were long gone. For others you will discover new interests and energy for things you have never tried before. For each of us we will start to become wonderfully comfortable in our own skin around others and even in moments that would normally cause us to cower. We will know who we are and who we are not, and the enemy will no longer be able to use others to effectively tear us down. You will know that you are a child of the King and you will no longer settle for a slave’s life. For most of my life I have been a workaholic. In one sense it has caused me to have great success in building a business, but I was working hard to prove my self-worth. No matter my success I always felt that I did not measure up. I still work hard, but at this point it is for fun and for the Kingdom of God. I am fulfilling my purpose and doing my part to establish His Kingdom here on earth. I have a grateful heart to play any role within the Kingdom of God. I know I measure up, He says so! Please press forward and make it to this Phase and look me up. I will buy you lunch, and we will visit. I love spending time with people who have made it this far. They are always the most relaxed and interesting of people.
Phase 11: You will discover that He is all you need, and the cry of your heart starts to be for Him! On Sunday morning March 7th, 2021 at Breakthrough Church in Yakima, WA., Pastor Kari Jennings preached one of the most inspirational messages that I have heard in a long time. It was a Phase 14 message. The anointing of the Spirit was upon her from the first moment she started speaking. She was speaking life for all that would have ears to hear. She stopped for a moment and said something like: “if this is your first time visiting here you must be thinking: “this woman is crazy”. She then goes on to say: “well I am crazy, I’m crazy in love with Jesus! What He has done in my life and the lives of those I love, I just can not get enough of Him! Is anyone else out there crazy for Him like I am?” Yep, in this Phase you become a fanatic. Because of the life altering experiences that you have been having, more of Him is all you want. Money just becomes paper to you, gold becomes just a metal, possessions and accomplishments in this world just begin to pale in comparison to His presence. Even your closest of relationship that you love, do not compare to your relationship with Him. You may love your spouse and children deeply and even be willing to quickly lay down your life for them, but you still love Him more. There is no high like the, “Most High!” Jesus satisfies the longings of your heart like no other. When you are with Him the issues of this world fade away. You have found what you have always been striving for even though you never knew it. During one of my mission trips to Central Africa many years ago, I found myself in the interior regions of the Congo, that used to be Zaire. I had the privilege to be staying at a pastor’s home and we were having dinner outside around an open fire as they did every night. As darkness fell you could see the flickering of fires throughout the juggle and then the singing began. They lifted up praises to Lord in the most beautiful of melodies. Each home singing with grateful hearts about the goodness of the Lord. No electricity, no running water, no mattresses to sleep on, dirt floors, no vehicle to drive, no socks and shoes for their children, none of the human comforts that we have here in the states and yet there was genuine peace, joy and contentment. It was as if I was experiencing heaven with the multitude of tribes all giving glory to him. I was in awe, and I knew they had something that I still lacked. I was definitely saved and on my way to heaven, yet I still had one foot straddling the fence into this world. I was, of course, oblivious at the time, of my still holding onto the things this world values, but now that I am 100% sold out, this world has nothing to offer me. I have found that I have more than I could ever ask for in Him. I am so grateful to be free from the things of this world! Won’t you join me?
Phase 12: You start naturally surrendering your will and you stop trying to figure things out. You are now a mature Christian and you know that His will is always far better than yours. His ways are always far better than your ways. His desires are always far better than your desires. His will be done, becomes your heart’s cry. The Kingdom of God operates on your faith and trust in Him. Without faith nothing seems to work itself out. If you are like me, your default is to look for the answer to life’s problems. I still seem to try to figure things out before I look to God. I know better, yet I still do it anyway. I guess I am a slow learner. God is and always will be a miracle working God! God does not want us to learn to be self-reliant, because when we are self-reliant, we become prideful and once pride creeps in we automatically distance ourselves from Him. God loves to make a way when there seems to be no way, so let Him. Or in other words get out of His way and let go and let God. I had the wonderful privilege of spending time with my youngest this weekend. She had me join her on a house hunt. She became excited about a place that I knew was not right for her. I wanted to say something but felt a check in my spirit. I prayed with her for direction, yet she still wanted to move forward with making an offer. As her father I longed to discourage her from making a mistake, but I also knew as her father, that if I said something against it, my words may actually motivate her to want to do it more. I was left with saying nothing and trusting that God would guide her steps without my help at all. In the past these types of situations would cause me to lose sleep, but now I know that my daughter is in far better hands with God than with me. I am ok with surrendering my will and not having any clue about what God is going to do next. It has taken me a lifetime of banging my head against the wall to learn this lesson, but I am getting it. My daughter had a nightmare about the place that evening and changed her mind and I was able to encourage her that God loves her so much that He has something far better in store for her. God seldom give details, but God does speak promises that are sure. When it comes to loved ones and personal relationships letting go and letting God can be a very emotional and a challenging endeavor. God will not override someone else’s will for your benefit. It is also controlling and wrong for you to try to override or manipulate someone else’s will. We may not know what tomorrow holds, but we know who holds tomorrow. Surrendering your future and the future of your loved ones to the Lord is the right thing to do, but also take the time to seek the Lord for the promises that He has for you and your loved ones. God will reveal His promises, right them upon your heart and your hope will not be lost and peace will reign in your life.