James 4:7 is such a powerful yet profound Scripture. I like how our sister, Renee, connected praise to submitting to God. You are recognizing His Lordship and humbling yourself before Him. To break-up the English word 'submission,' we have two parts.

Sub - under
Mission - an important assignment / vocation

When we submit to God, we are coming under His authority and the assignment which He has called us to. The Greek word is 'hupotassó' and is translated as "under subjection" or "under God's arrangement" in context to what is being said. When you are obeying God then you are resisting the devil. Just as Jesus said, it is impossible to serve two masters.

With obedience, there is change. With change, there is advancement.

We have been discussing praise more in depth over the past few weeks.

James 4:7 Be subject therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

To submit to God is to recognize what you're going through is the result of a demonic attack and goes against God's will for your life. How do we submit? We lift up our hands and praise Him. We praise until it breaks. We praise our way out and into His presence where there is joy. As we glorify the name of Jesus we are glorifying the person. As we continue to praise, He fills the atmosphere and whatever it is that is on you has to break! How? His presence is in the breath that He has given us.

Psalm 22:3 But you are holy, You who inhabit the praises of Israel. This is why incredible things (healing, deliverance, breakthrough) happen when we are in His presence! Praise is powerful!

Acts 13:2

'As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost SAID...'

That right there is powerful! The Holy Spirit gave direction. What the Holy Spirit says will not fail. And as He did in the days of the early church, The Holy Spirit continues to lead us and guide us into all truth and in the way we should go. He is our Helper. The Paraclete, the one who goes alongside with us to move us forward (advancement, empowerment, elevation, possession, dominion). We don't need powerless programs or ideas, we need what the Holy Ghost said and is saying. Good ideas only have a lifespan, but what the Holy Spirit reveals (which is from the future) is guaranteed to work and be so powerful that it will impact generations to come!

If the church is to be effective in this generation, or in any generation, the church must be relevant. Always up to date and on the cutting edge. I've been thinking about this. One of the ways that we are to be relevant is that we must be 'reveal'ant. (It's a play on words but I mean to be revelatory) What I mean is that when people encounter us we are to reveal to them things they did not know before. Every time God speaks, as we have learned in class, God reveals more of Himself. So therefore every time we speak to others we are to reveal more of who God is. When we speak with revelation of God, we speak with light and truth to those that are in darkness. We are receivers of revelation, carriers and transmitters of revelation. God speaks to us and we receive our empowerment so that we now live a lifestyle of empowering every one else. The church won't go out of date if she (The bride of Christ) reveals more of Jesus, and makes known more of The kingdom of God. The gospel of Jesus (the message of salvation: Jesus heals saves delivers baptizes with the Holy Ghost and He's coming back again. And also the gospel of the kingdom (empowerment, elevation possession dominion expansion increase and progression and development and I could keep on!)
And this revelation isn't just informative or a good idea, people have got to know they were saved for a reason. And life gets better.
Progressive revelation then leads to progression by revelation. As the church receives from God, we then cultivate a culture of revelation, not information, but empowerment, making known something that will cause people's life to change and communities to development and thrive and all that I mentioned previously and so much more.
I believe the church will lead in innovation in areas we would have never thought possible. We'll be a church that doesn't just say, 'Hear me'.. but, 'Watch me!' We are living in one of the greatest times to be alive! Are you excited? You ought to be because God has a plan and you're a part of it!

We have been discussing the topic of identity recently. On our own, our efforts towards successfully making something happen and securing the path of growth or advancement for what has been accomplished may be good, but those efforts pale in comparison to what can be done when we understand who we are in Him. We have to first understand who He is so that we can find our place in Him. Once that has been established, we become effective in advancing His Kingdom because He has created us to be success!

Repentance. Some may believe that it is simply deciding to change the way you think. Instead of sad thoughts, you think happy thoughts. We have learned that repentance is so much deeper and more powerful than that.

When the Lord is calling for you to repent, it is only through a supernatural occurrence done by His power that it can be accomplished. How do we know when we have repented? Our minds have LITERALLY been changed so that we can longer think in the same manner as before. With this change comes the ability to see on a new level.

Romans 12:2: "Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..."

It is up to us to stay in the presence of the Lord (praying over and over) until this change comes.

The Lord says in Hosea 4:6, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..."

Revelation is more than just head-knowledge or information. It is not facts for an exam. Revelation deals with understanding and comprehension. When revelation comes, you are then able to apply your understanding because power is available.

The Apostle Paul tells us about wisdom and revelation in 1 Corinthians 2. Spiritual matters cannot be comprehended by the natural man. They must be received by the spirit. So for any matters, we are to look to the Holy Ghost for revelation. He is the One who shows us the things of God (1 Cor 2:10-12).

““ The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,”
??Luke? ?4:18? ?NET??

Every day in our lives we encounter darkness on some level. There are people suffering who don't even realize they are being held captive and oppressed by an enemy. We've been lulled into believing that sleeplessness, lack of appetite, feeling down, being driven to accomplish or feelings of inadequacy are just part and parcel of being human. On some level this may be true. It is possible to ignore reasonable judgment and push yourself into exhaustion. However on other levels it is oppression.

When you find yourself in a cycle that you can't break, it may be the hand of the enemy. There is a remedy. It's Jesus. He bore our weakness and infirmity. He paid the price for our sin. He redeemed us from the hand of the enemy when He was beaten and hung on the cross to die. He invites you to come.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
??Matthew? ?11:28? ?NET??

We have learned that revelation works by knowledge.
On our fire conference, we had a class on Breaking the Spirit of Poverty. To many, poverty is only defined by having a lack of resources. However, poverty is not only with the physical, it has to do with a mindset as well. An example of a poverty mindset would be the "lottery mindset.". Having a lottery mindset is a mindset that desires wealth quickly.When an individual wins the lottery, statistically there is a 70% of being broke with in 5 years. Why? Because having wealth, requires giving and being diligent

One way to break the spirit of poverty and one way is GIVING. We have to give all that we have in order to produce something. You cannot keep the seeds and expect the seeds to grow. With the mindset of poverty, many are taught or believe to keep and never invest. According to research, millionaires are consistently investing their money into churches, businesses, communities etc.

In Thursday's class, we began speaking about the spirit of dominion and the importance of understanding scripture. 2 Timothy 1:7 says for the Lord has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind. It sounds wonderful, but what does that mean?

What is fear? It is cowardliness, timidity, reticence. The Lord has not given us a spirit that is afraid to SPEAK. A speaking God needs a speaking people.

What is power? the Greek word for this is dunamis, which means dynamite; the ability to perform. The ability to do mighty deeds, marvelous works. It means force, energy. Samson is an example of this ability in Judges 16:30 (NIV) - "Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it." Where did he get such power to do this? Dunamis is another word for dominion and is also used to define God's ability, or the power of His ability. When the power of dunamis comes upon you, you are able to do what God is able to do!

What is love? The Greek word for this is agape. This love is divine. It connects us to God and to each other.

What is a sound mind? It is behavior that fits the situation. Being able to act out God's will by doing what He calls sound reason. This is not about self-discipline or self-control. The Greek word for this is sophron. Having prudence.

We have to dig deeper and receive the revelation of the scripture. There is no power behind something said by someone that does not hold the full understanding of what it is they are saying. You have to have power in the words that come out of your mouth, otherwise, it is just something that sounds nice. There needs to be a push behind what we say.