When one rejoices they handle adversity with calmness because; they have a deep rooted relationship and know with certainty that all things are working together for good to those who love the Lord and are called according to His purposes.  This is a condition that a Christian has to fight for and it is not easy at times because of the things that come against us.  Joy is a fruit of the spirit of God and we must exercise the Spirit of joy by being disciplined to praise God when things may be at the darkest hour.  Many a night I have gone to bed restless and afraid or caring some trial and burden of life and I have learned to begin to thank God and worship Him through discipline with dead emotions by stirring up the spirit with in me; which ushered in the Spirit of God that lifted the burden.  Jesus had to do the same thing at the Garden of Gesemani when He was petitioning His Heavenly Father and asking Him if there was another way then Him going to the cross and scripture tells us, ministering angels came to Him and lifted the load.

(2.) Pray without ceasing.

When one prays, they stay in a constant state like breathing to have oxygen come into our lungs so life can be maintained.  I have learned to stay in the constant presence of the Lord because; my body is the temple that God lives in.  This is the natural way for a born again child of God to live.  God does not live in a temple nor does He live in a church building; we separately are the church and our anointing is ever present to be used to share a word of wisdom for the weary or lay hands on the sick and infirmed to heal the body or the soul as necessary.  The life of God is in our prayer life conversations with Him at all times.  Prayer is not some nice written document that we memorize or we use on certain occasion of need.  We must learn to allow the Holy Ghost to pray through us because, He knows the mind of God as I have stated. Prayer is a extension of our camaraderie with God and is two way. We communicate to God our Father with our inquisitive nature as a child and receive from Him the assurance and concern that He has for us and it causes us to rest from our uncertainties and encourages our vision and purpose of God's intension for our lives.  This is His life and our life becoming one and what the Christian faith is all about.

(3.) In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

This command for me is a tuffy and at times painful when I go through things that bring anxiety and fear.  This is one of the devils main attacks in making the child of God believe that; God has forsaken them because, God says in the bible that; He is our Father and we should cast all our care on Him because He cares for us; however; our own thinking says, how could God allow these types of attacks and trials that cause such a disruption of the peace that God wants  us to stay in.
We are now talking about the nitty gritty things of life and we must learn how to fight these attacks in our mind with God's word being instantaneously given to us by the Holy Ghost at the time of the attack.  Our relationship with the Holy Ghost must be that real and alive with in us.  I can recall some trials in my life that were some of the worst attacks of fear that drove me to anger to muffle the anxiety and fear that was driving my emotions to despair of life it self.  However, as soon as the attack came; the Holy Ghost through God's word assured me that He was still there and that no trial could pluck me out of His hand.

These trials that we all go through; God uses them to stretch and expand our capacity for the Holy Ghost to have more control which cause us to learn how to let go of our ways of dealing with life and allow Him to caring and defend our person as God‘s child.  To many born again believers are using other means to protect them selves from the cares of life and as I have stated; they are selling themselves in to life styles and bondage type addictions under demonic oppression and control.  I did not say possession ( the physical occupancy of something such as a house, whether or not as its owner )but oppression. ( being subject to a persons harsh or cruel form of domination.

In 11Cor. 12:6-10 Paul the Apostle was dealing with these trials of life which comes against our soul ( mind will and emotions.)   He was living with a great revelation of the power of God operating in His life and he was struggling with giving God the glory verses him taking the glory for himself because of the way God was using him; with signs and wonders following his life.  He states. "Should I desire to boast, I shall not be a witless braggart, for I shall be speaking the truth. But I abstain from it so that no one may form a higher estimate of me than is justified by what he sees in me or hears from me.  And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness of these revelations, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted.  Three times I called upon the Lord and besought Him and begged that it might depart from me. 

But He said to me, My grace ( My loving favor and loving kindness and mercy are enough for you and is sufficient against any danger and will enable you to bear the trouble manfully; for My strength and power are made perfect and complete and show itself most effective in your weakness. Paul then says. Therefore. I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ, the messiah, may rest  (Pitch a tent and dwell upon me.)  So for the sake of Christ- I am well pleased in my infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions and distresses.  For when I am weak( in human strength) then I am truly strong-able and powerful in divine strength."

When I rationalize  what Paul said here with my natural mind;  I have to say that I believed for a moment that Paul had lost his mind in feeling well pleased when he was going through all these distasteful conditions that were occurring in his life.  I personal believe that God allows the devil as a roaring lion the freedom to harass His children so that they really learn how to run to the loving Father that He is; and hide under the shadow of His protection as He equips us to go back out and take back what the devil has stolen from God.  !Here me on this! 

There must be a total abandonment in God our Father of the leaning of our whole personality with a trust that supersedes our own reasoning.
It is a picture of a trusting child with their hands upraised and asking their Father with out words to pick them up and be carried in His arms.  Try to get this picture in your head as God showed it to me.  God help us to have this kind of hunger after Him.

(4.) Quench not the Spirit.

When one quenches; they stop drinking in the love and direction of the Holy Ghost and their spirit becomes dehydrated and their soul tries to stand in the gap by doing its own thing to survive.  Paul in Eph.5:26-27 states. " Christ sanctifies and cleanses His children by the washing of water by the word. So that, He might present it to himself a glorious church, not having any spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it be holy and without blemish." Scripture refers to water as bring life and cleansing.  When a born again believer is never discipled as to how to walk in God's kingdom; their spiritual ears that they received the day they became born again; can not define the difference between the doctrines of man and the voice of the Holy of Ghost.

Many people have told me over the years that in order to become a mature Christian; you have to believe in the doctrines of the denomination that you belong to.  When I hear these statements; it tells me that their souls are sick because; they may love the Lord but not according to the true knowledge of Him.

We quench the Spirit of God when we do not stay with a attitude of seeking a higher wisdom then our own.  This only comes by God's Spirit and not by any denominational doctrine and add on philosophy of man adding to the word of God.

True born again believers know that Jesus is the only way however, after becoming a child of God, they have to identify how the Holy Ghost takes them through the sanctification process of their spiritual life.  This is where He matures us to fulfill our destiny in Christ Jesus. 1Tim. 4:5 says, " We are sanctified by the word of God and prayer."   When we meditate on the word day and night, we learn to identify the Holy Ghost‘s voice and a relationship of a continual conversation goes on at all times.  

In 2Thes. 2.13  Paul tells these people what he was called to do by God; so that they could grow up and mature in Christ when he says. " I am bound to give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because; God has from the beginning chosen you for salvation through the sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth."   Only the Holy Ghost sanctifies and brings truth to the hearts and mind of God‘s children. The Greek interpretation of sanctifies is hagiazo: meaning, blameless, innocent, pure and a saint.  Now I have had many a conversation with born again Christians even in my own personal family who have told me that; I have misinterpreted the scriptures because; since they believe that they are still sinners; it is impossible for them to believe that God looks at them as blameless and innocent.

Now this is where the problem lies.  Will we live our lives by contradicting what the scripture says and lean towards our own understanding.  I don't believe that people who love God would intentionally want to do this.  It just that they have not rightly interpreted what God is saying here.  A sinner from scripture is one who focuses their thought life on their behavior because they reason with in themselves that; they are breaking God's laws.  In turn they can not lift up the countenance of the Lord with His grace which covers them from thinking and being self conscience of their short comings.  This in turn brings and feeds shame in their lives. This stops them from hearing the  Holy Ghost telling them to come into the light where He lives; and have Him wash the living entity of shame out of their lives. The Holy Ghost with tenaciousness is trying to get in the last word and set them free from this doctrine that is devilish in nature.  A Christian being controlled by this living entity; can not boldly come into the throne room where our Heavenly Father resides and frolic and play because of feeling unworthy in His sight.

In Eph. 4;30 Paul says. " Do not grieve ( offend, or sadden) the Holy Spirit where by you were sealed ( branded as God's own ) for the day of our final redemption from evil and the consequences of sin." When something is redeemed it means that; a person is bought back by some one paying for it and Jesus paid for us by buying us back from the entity of sin.  This is a completed work when we became born again.  God the Father cannot have one unkind word of thought, or way of condemnation or impatience with His child as it is being taught in the majority of born again church's of today.  A true Father who loves their children and knows that his D.N.A. is in them; could not and would not damage them in any way because; they are a extension of his own loins. Only this continuing education by the Holy Ghost of the love of the Father can heal and keep the soul from being shame sick and feeling unworthy. 

In the Old Testament God looked at David the King as a man after His own heart; only because he knew how to make himself available to experience the love and presence of the Lord.  He said in Psalms 139:23-24. " Search me O God and know my heart: try me and know my thoughts. And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting life."  Even David thought that he might be doing something wrong in his life; but he knew who to run to so he could be encouraged and get hugs from God that calmed his fears of failure and thinking that God would reject him. We must be open by walking in the light of God's counsel and not live in denial if we are going to allow the Holy Ghost to search our heart and erase any false concepts that we have as to God's nature.  The Holy Ghost wants to be a consuming fire of love so that we mature to know with a living emotional reality that; no matter what comes against us; we are more then a conqueror in Christ Jesus who loves us.

(5.) Despise not prophesying.

This one verse in the born again church's arena of life experiences has been so misinterpreted that I have heard Christians who I have deeply loved say that; a born again believer who has been baptized with the gift of tongues and speaks in another language by the leading of the Holy Ghost who lives in them is demonically possessed.  When I first heard this; the Spirit with in me was deeply grieved.  Speaking in tongues in another language not being motivated by your own mind is a gift of God and something you have to yearn for after you become born again.  I believe it gives you a greater revelation and awareness of the Holy Ghost working in ones life.  Scripture tells us that it makes us grow up like a strong tower of stability. We simply allow the Holy Ghost to pray through us.   I was baptized in the Holy Ghost 9 months after become born again when some told me that God wants His children to have all His gifts so they can become mature and do the works of Jesus in the earth. I speak in tongues daily and it is a vital part of my prayer life because, some times I do not know what to pray for so I let the Holy Ghost pray through me and let God give me the interpretation of what He is saying.  I hope I have not lost anybody who is reading this article. However, this is a subject in itself and I could right a book on it alone however, I will limit this part of the article on the definition of what prophesy represents as far as scripture is concerned.

The word prophesy in the Greek is prophetes: meaning, to speak under inspiration and to foretell. The first three letters of the word pro, means speaking words from above and to make known one's thoughts and to illuminate.  It is obvious to me that we are talking about speaking words that are inspired by the Holy Ghost.  Scripture tells us that we have the right to walk in heavenly places with Christ Jesus.  I haven't figured out how born again believers being impregnated with the sperm of God and have the Holy Ghost living in their body to nurture and befriend them on a second to second basis; have such a lack of excitement to speak to every one they meet what the Holy Ghost is telling them daily.  It must be that they have never been able to define the voice of God in their lives due to all the other voices that are clamoring to get our attention.

I have over the years when talking to people and ministering to them, not in a church service necessarily but just in my every day travels of my arena of life; given them a word from the Lord that encouraged them and made them feel that God had not forsaken them. This is the natural way children of the Most High God should function.  You don't need to be a ordained minister to do this.  Just as it was natural and customary for Adam and Eve to walk with God and allow His spirit to flow in their earthly bodies in the Garden of Eden; which means God's protective hedge; so it should be the same with us daily. 

In Rev. 5:10John tells us that " God has made us kings and priest unto our God."  1Peter 2;9 says " We are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that we should show forth the praises of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light."  In 11Cor. 5;17 it says, " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away and all things have become new"  I could give another bunch of scripture however, I am trying to communicate that unless you know who you are in Christ Jesus and the power and anointing that you have with in you, life goes on as usual and you become conformed to the ways of the world and I am sorry to say, denominationally asleep in Christ.

Continued in part three