The Stumbling Block

    1 Corinthians 1: 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For indeed Jews ask for signs and Greeks search for wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, 24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (NASB)
    No workings of our own has saved us, what Christ did on the cross has saved us. Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. (NLT) Saved in the Greek –sozo-to save, keep safe and sound, to rescue from danger or destruction, to save a suffering one (from perishing), one suffering from disease, to make well, heal, restore to health. If the message of the Good News you are hearing doesn’t sound too good to be true, you are probably not hearing the real message of the Good News. This is the greatest message in the history of this planet, this is actually the only message of pure and true significance.
    The stumbling block, yes, the part that trips most people up is that they find it hard to believe God is as good as He says He is. Christ really did finished the job and all we do is receive and manifest the victory that already took place. In one way or another people are searching for what they have to do to get to heaven, instead of thanking Him for what He did so they can have perfection and heaven now. Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (NASB) Ephesians 2:6 For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. (NLT)
    Let’s take an in depth look at this ‘stumbling block’ phrase. The word for ‘stumbling block’ in the Greek is -skandalon-the trigger of a trap (the mechanism closing a trap down on the unsuspecting victim); (figuratively) an offense, how someone is caught by their own devices (like their personal bias, carnal thinking). A snare, stumbling-block, cause for error. This word -skandalon- is where we get our English word scandal.
    Note that Paul, who doesn't get enough credit for being the absolute genius that he was, claimed to resolve to nothing but “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Why would Paul whittle all of his life’s work down to something so simple? Because Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, (KJV).
    You must understand that the devil’s gig is to get you to try and earn something through performance that God has already given you through relationship. This is nothing new, it started in the Garden of Eden. Eve was already like God, the enemy was getting her to trigger the trap on herself. The devil was getting her caught up in all her own devices (a stumbling block), instead of being free in all of His goodness.
    The devil tried the same thing with Jesus in Matthew 4, he tried to trick Him into thinking he could give Him something better then He already had. Matthew 4: 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” (ESV) What an outrageous downgrade that would have been for the King of glory to just take the kingdoms of earth and their glory, when He is rightful owner of the entire universe and all that is in it. The comparison is no different with us. What the devil tries to trick people into is an massive downgrade compared to what God has already freely given us.
    The devil is trying so hard to get you caught up in the things of this world, and trying to earn everything that you actually already have. All the while the Spirit beckons, Revelation 11:12 And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. (NASB) He summons us to take our rightful place and come to the recognition of our co-seated authority in Him while He makes our enemies our footstool. Sounds too good to be true? That is because it is the real Good News. He already did all the work, your job is to rest in the finished job and manifest His already accomplished victory.
    The mindset that works in grace, continually sinks into an ever increasing growth of His goodness. While a mindset in that works in law of Moses falls over the stumbling block of self-effort and draining confusion. Relationship rests in the glory realm that is free to all, while someone who is trying to walk out the law of Moses tries to climb into what is freely theirs anyways.
    Imagine a hamster going round and round on its wheel trying to get the cheese that is sitting right next to him as soon as he steps of his tiring wheel. Think of a stumbling block, think of a little block that keeps tripping someone and halting them from a destination that is right in front of them. It can’t be that simple, or can it. This little block can completely block off an entirely new realm, yes. Everything that man has and is trying to earn from God is free through the grace in Christ. All goodness is found in the Kingdom, and it is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. There is no earning in the Kingdom, it is all free. It is a matter of learning what it is that you already have, and learning and growing in the Truth of who you already are.
    Man’s obsession with scandals is all a distraction from thee only scandal worth our attention. God has completely rigged the ballot box in our favor. God has 100% set us up for freely receiving everything that we didn’t earn. The stumbling block is believing that you have to do more work and add to what Christ has already finished. It is that simple, the job is finished. The choice is yours whether you want to receive and grow in all of heaven now, or not.
    It is offensive to the mindset that wants a sign from heaven, to think that you “just believe” in faith that it’s all yours, gibberish they say. And the flip side, you must gain knowledge and wisdom in order to earn an understanding so God will love you more. All the while the real signs from heaven and the True knowledge and wisdom come once you stop trying to get it and surrender to the Truth of growing in already having it. 2 Corinthians 5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. (ESV) And we walk in His faith not our own. If it was dependent on our faith then why would we even need our Lord and Savior Jesus? Claiming that it is dependent on our faith is still saying that we are earning the Kingdom. The Gospel supplies far more faith then it demands.
    All the worlds efforts and attempts to earn God's favor are a rat race into confusion. God was thrilled to confuse the confused with the message of free salvation for anyone that would retire from their work and enter into His finished work. Those that think they must work miracles in order to be holy and right with God are simply spinning their own wheels into exhaustion, all the while Christ was crucified so those at rest in Him see even more miracles with almost no effort of their own involved. This is the place just before the narrow gate where many trip over the stumbling block, and instead of entering into a realm beyond human comprehension they let their mind trap them from where their heart desires to take them. Once one has given ownership rights of their life to the King, He is what has filled them and the Spirit will never stop leading them towards the free and limitless realm that is to good to be true, yet it is true.
    The same applies to the pursuit of knowledge. Thinking one must gain heaps of knowledge through never ending earning, is just another disguise the trapper sets just before the narrow gate. Knowledge is a must in relationship with Jesus, but it's knowledge that comes through intimacy. When we make it about gaining knowledge as a notch on our belt towards earning favor from God, we can easily fall into "We know that "We all possess knowledge." But knowledge puffs up while love builds up," 1 Corinthians 8:1. Knowledge gained through love is the knowledge God gives, knowledge worked up on our own breeds arrogant pride.
   The real knowledge we are looking for cannot be understood, even if stumbled upon, until the Helper has taken residence inside us. "He will guide you into all truth," John 16:13. The Truth is a foreign language to us until Love Himself has become the lens through which we see. God in all His foolishness is wiser then man in all His accolades, and even if God had a weak moment (which has never happened), a mere flick of His pinky finger packs more strength then all of mans combined strength over the history of all mankind’s existence.
    Holy Spirit truly is better than we can ever imagine. He leads us into the intimate knowledge of Love. This knowledge of Love always builds us up to more of the image of Christ and empowers us to reveal Him as He truly is in this world. It's free, our job is to rest and receive all the grace full goodness He has for us.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Rest In Victory

I'm drifting down stream into the gifting of His profound dream.

His goodness is shifting all around me, to bring me into more of His crowned scene. 

He lavishes us with heaven, with access through trust in resurrection.

This new testament is deliciously refreshing and imprinted in His impression.

We have the best of Him in our flesh and grin, we are heavenly specimens.

God's aggression was towards sin, He took care of that. On the cross He got His win.

His ideas for us, are more then to simply support us. He sees us as gorgeous.

He is not asking Himself, "Can I afford this?" We have full access to His portions.

We live at His expense in the bliss of being cleansed and free from offense.

So stay inside His fence so He can Shepard you through the depths.

We are inept to be elect, and He canceled all regrets and handled all our debts.

He crushed sin and its effects on the whole, He made the enemy the foolish public spectacle. 

Live for Him, He was innocent but became indigent and 'finished it'

So we could mimic Him and always be delivering life sweet as cinnamon.

  Be the power and joy conduit, love speaks louder and He already accomplished it. 

He is not out for admonishment, the obstacles are gone so just sit in the palm of His grip.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Acts 2- Love Speaks Louder

    God made so many amazing statements on the glorious day of Pentecost in Acts 2. So many promises and prophetic words were fulfilled that day. So much of His amazing character and propensity to love was revealed in that seemingly chaotic unveiling. But the real statement God made was about the depth of His unsearchable love for people and His amazing ability to redeem any and all people no matter what they have done.
    I want to point something different out here in Acts 2, but first I want to break it down so you can see how precise God was with this act of breath taking goodness. In Acts 2: 1-4 God pours out His Spirit to fill believers from the inside out. Acts 2: 2 And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance. (NASB) God makes sure that He gets everyone’s attention. He sets the stage for His emphatic statement of love, and what a glorious showing it was.
    So now that God has His beloved children hammered drunk in His love, and ‘And there appeared to them tongues as of fire’, it attracts the religious experts of the day who God had already gathered beforehand in one place. God planned this massive love encounter so well its mind boggling. Pentecost in the Greek is – pentékosté- a one day festival celebrated at the end of the barley harvest. This was a joyous time of giving great thanks to God, Strong’s Concordance. So during a great harvest in the natural, God brings in one of the greatest harvests for the Kingdom. Only He could plan something so beautiful.
    So as the ‘religious experts’ were gathering around, because of the Holy order that heaven was unleashing, God has His kids drunk in His love and speaking the languages of the religious experts that are looking on with confusion. Not only are His fully redeemed children speaking in languages they themselves don’t know, but they were ‘speaking of the mighty deeds of God’ in the languages of the Pharisees from all over the world. It says the Pharisees were ‘bewildered, amazed, astonished, with amazement and great perplexity’. People can critic, judge, try and explain, and etc etc all day long, those responses won't stop the love and power of God. God is going to find people that live with the lens of love and will not be affected by critics and skeptics, and He will use these people to bring heaven to earth. And heaven coming to earth has a tendency to look quite different then what we would expect.
    God is so precise here. He has His sons and daughters speaking the languages of the skeptics, ‘devout men from every nation under heaven’. Parthians, Medes, Elamites, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, Libya, Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, and Cretans and Arabs. The religious mindset has to be able to rationally explain everything that happens. That strong hold over peoples thinking can be debunked over and over and over again in the Word. God doesn’t need our OK to do something that we have never seen or heard of before, and just because it didn’t originate with us or our church doesn’t mean it’s not God.
    In Romans 12:2 it says, ‘…be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.’ Your mind is to be renewed so that when something comes up you can discern if it is God. Implying, let your mind be like His so you can tell when something happens if its Him or not. Your mind is to prove (the word for ‘prove’ in the Greek is – dokimazo- and it really means, approve or examine). God is saying that there is going to be plenty of things that come up that you have never seen before and your mind needs renewing so you will be able to approve it as the will and doings of God.
    In Acts 2 God set the stage for a monumental act of His kindness and grace. Peter stands and addresses the crowd. Peter’s mind was renewed, through intimate relationship with Jesus. He had obviously never seen this before, no one had, but He knew God and was able to discern His mighty hand of love and power. Peter knew the Word made flesh, and they were waiting for God’s promise, Luke 24:49 "And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven." (NLT)
    So Holy Spirit takes the microphone and through Peter He explains what this is in a way that they can understand. Acts 2:14 That’s when Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out with bold urgency… (Message) He explained what was happening with the written word, because the people he was addressing would have completely understood what he was saying. After Peter expounds on the fulfillment of prophecy in verses 17-21 he drives a sword of Truth into their hearts. Acts 2: 22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. (NASB)
    Ouch! Understand what God is saying here through Peter, God just called the religious experts of the day godless murders. All their bible memorizing, all their hours of prayer, all their performance, etc… amounted to being godless murders. They couldn’t see love when it was standing in front of them in the flesh. Acts 2: 36 “All Israel, then, know this: There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.” (Message)  Now that’s the facts, but Truth always overrides the facts, and Truth cleanses anyone and everyone that will receive Him. Christ is Truth and He washes us completely spotless and empowers us to walk as a brand new creation (2 Cor. 5:17-21, Col. 3: 9-10, and more... ).
    Here is the amazing statement God was setting the stage to make. Acts 2: 37 Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (NASB)
    The first harvest that our Father of Love brought into the Kingdom was the very ones that murdered the Messiah Himself. The first people that tasted of redemption were the ones that killed our Redeemer. The ones that premeditated the torture and death of the Savior of the world, was the first harvest God reeled in. Don’t just read through this. Stop and let this loving Truth drill your heart! God didn’t take them through long ‘sozo’ sessions. God didn’t explain a never-ending ‘repentance’ process. God washed those that wanted Him spotless and made them a re-presentation of Christ, the very One they tortured and murdered. The process of knowing who He has made us is real, but it is not required up front. They have a revelation of the some degree of the Truth and He gives them everything. It's the Good News. The blood of Jesus speaks louder than anything! The facts are that they did brutally murder the Son of God, the Truth is that God paid for ALL sin through His Son on the cross (no matter the brutality and severity of it).
    God made such an outrageous statement of love and redemption here. He washed the ones that we would think were the filthiest of all, spotless and filled them with the very One they murdered. The scandal of grace, yes that is our God. It’s as if He wanted to make sure we understood what He was really like, and what the cross had really done. So the first ones God made just as spotless as the King Himself, were the ones that murdered the King Himself.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Being

    What does it mean to ‘Be’? After all, we are not called to ‘do a son', that just sounds ridiculous. We are called to be a son of God. We are not the ‘doloved’, again, that is not even a word and it sounds outlandish. We are the Beloved. We are to dwell in a place of being loved, of knowing that our very stance and countenance all derives from the place of being perfectly loved by the Creator of the universe. The overflow of all He has done in us and will do through us stems from the place of being who He has declared we are. The Beloved.
    God did not say, “Do still and know that I am God.” He said, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10 (ESV). The New American Standard Translation says this in Psalm 46:10, “Cease striving and know that I am God…” The word in Hebrew for ‘cease’ or ‘be still’ is -raphah-sink, relax, or fall limp. The bible is filled with commands, so in context of the entire Word this verse is not saying be nothing. We are positioned and fully equipped, right now, to be fully satisfied in Him, and extend that blissful satisfaction toward everyone we meet.
    Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 9:22…I have become all things to all men… This verse is saying to stop trying to do it your way and do it His way. God is able to supply every person you come in contact with everything that they may need for them to proceed in wholeness. You were created to know how to BE, and from the revelation of BEING all righteous doing flows.
    Getting it backwards and trying to do, in order to earn what is already yours, will have you performing for everything you already possess. That is falling back into the law, trying to earn righteousness. And falling back into the law brings your wrong doings to the surface. Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (ESV)
    It’s free. You being a holy and blameless son is His idea, not yours. Just be who He says you are and He will be who He says He is in and through you. Focusing on a sin nature, which was removed from you when you said yes to Jesus, is simply resurrecting your old dead sinful self that was co-crucified with Christ on the cross. You were co-crucified, co-buried, co-risen, co-baptized, you are co-seated in Christ, and now you are a co-heir that has been co-missioned to re-present His power and love. It’s the simplicity of the Good News.
    The greatest sermon ever preached is Matthew 5, 6, and 7, The Beatitudes, or the Sermon on the Mount, or the Attitudes of Being. Jesus lays out the blue print of our true nature in these chapters. All of our sin nature was removed from us and we have been filled with the perfection of Him. We are not trying to do Christianity, trying to do without first understanding being brings a false sin nature identity to the surface. We are being a son of God. We are not doing works for God, we are being a vessel that He does His work through.
    We are not supposed to “do love” to the world, again that just sounds silly. Knowing how out of whack it sounds to, “do love”. Imagine what it looks like to God when you try and “do love”. We are called to be love to the world. Yes, love is a verb, but trying to give something away that you don’t fully understand you have is how the pureness of the Good News gets misrepresented with “do-it-yourself” religious nonsense.
    Matthew 5: 5 Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth. (NKJV) I have pondered this verse many times and it just didn’t make sense to me for a long time. I then looked up the word ‘meek’ in the Greek. The word for ‘meek’ in the Greek is –praus- This difficult-to-translate root (pra-) means more than "meek." Biblical meekness is not weakness but rather refers to exercising God's strength under His control – i.e. demonstrating power without undue harshness, Strong’s Concordance. God wants to give you the earth as your inheritance, just ask Him for it, Psalm 2:8. You are not going to inherit the earth through false humility. He gives the earth to those that walk in His power and love while being kindness and patience. This is a lifestyle Jesus is talking about.
    We are to be charged by Holy Spirit, that’s our place of BEING. Our efforts will never accomplish the task. Knowing that the task has been accomplished, “It is finished”, brings the revelation of a light and easy burden into reality. We are called to be a son that manifests all the work that was already completed for the world. All while demonstrating His power and love, as a lifestyle, without undue harshness.
    I am not trying to become someone, I am growing in the Truth of who it is I already am. I am not trying to earn something, I am growing in the reality of everything that He already paid for and freely gave me. I am not trying to earn favor with God, I am putting to use all the unmerited favor He has already giving me.
    When we let the glorious and never ending revelation of what took place on the cross begin to take charge and deep root in our lives we become over taken with passion. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; (ESV). Paul was overtaken in the place of dwelling in the True Vine. Paul had learned to stay in and never leave the place of being loved, hence our position in the Christ, the Beloved. This love affair catapulted him into outrageously good works. All his doing found its force, drive, and passion from the place of BEING.
    Paul was absolutely blitzed in the revelation of what God did on the Cross through His Son. Everything Paul spent his life trying to earn was free. When Paul found this out he spent his life giving away the entirety of heaven, because he knew that in the place of being he possessed the entirety of heaven. The Champion of Heaven was without spot or wrinkle, yet He took on all imperfections so any and all could receive His perfection. He took what you deserved so you could get what He deserved, Jesus paid for everything for everyone!
    Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; (NASB). He says you have full access to all of heaven, John 17, so BE-lieve God and BE the son that gives away what He says you have. God gives you the Spirit without limits, John 3:34, so BE-lieve God and run off the heavenly fuel that you are built to run on. God has made you a brand new creation, 2 Corinthians 5:17, and He has made you whole, Hebrews 10:14,  God has done the job and what He says is Truth. We have the privilege of being who He says we are to a world that desperately needs what is alive inside us.
    Jesus did not tell us to pray for the sick, Jesus told us to heal the sick. He wouldn’t have given us a command that we couldn’t fulfill. The person that is being who He says they are will step right into doing what He told us that we could do. And the King of Kings just so happened to tell us that we could do anything in Matthew 19:26, yes that is correct you can do anything if you simply BE-lieve.
    When we dwell in that place of knowing how loved we are we stay in a place of being whole. It’s what salvation means. Salvation is far more about who you are now, rather than you praying some prayer thinking that you just punched your ticket to heaven. Jesus punched your ticket to heaven and inviting Him into your heart is not so you can hang on for dear life hoping Jesus hurries up His return. The very word for Salvation in the Greek is ‘sozo’ or ‘soteria’ meaning- welfare, prosperity, deliverance, preservation, salvation, safety. God's rescue which delivers believers out of destruction and into His safety, Strongs Concordance.
    Complete wholeness for any and all who will receive it is what God purchased through His Son on the cross. He paid for your wholeness and wholeness is your state of being, for you and for everyone that welcomes Him in. We begin to become familiar with heaven now, and it continues through eternity. No one is excluded from heaven on earths party, which does not start when you get to heaven, it started 2,000yrs ago when heaven came to earth. We get to BE who He paid for us to Be, and so He can BE who He says He is in and through us.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Clichés

    Let's take a look at some clichés that we so often speak over each other, and silly things that we buy into with our thinking that go against our true identity as royal sons and daughters of Our Father in Heaven. Proverbs 23:7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is… (NASB). Our thought life has far more impact in our actions then we realize and our thinking patterns are what manifest in our lives.
    Although subtle, we can buy into phrases that are contrary to our true identity of being citizens of the kingdom of heaven. We are brand new creations as children of the King of Kings that have been washed spotless in the blood of God Himself. Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (NKJV) Let Him transform your thinking from the old sin full patterns, into the new creation kingdom reality that is now your true identity. 1 Corinthians 2:16 …But we have the mind of Christ.
    As this glorious repentance comes into being in our thinking we begin to see the world through the lens of knowing God’s will. The word for ‘prove’ in this verse in the Greek is ‘dokimazo’ – approve, put to the test to reveal what is good, Strong’s Concordance. How would we be able to approve His will, unless we first know his will? It’s simple, the Word of God has fully revealed His will, the biggest mystery being revealed is “Christ in us the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) So let’s take a look at some things here…

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

    I understand this is a nursery rhyme, but this is a perfect example of how we can sink into thinking that is completely counter to Truth. Sticks and stones sure can break your bones, but words can actually produce death. Proverbs 18:21 The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences. (NLT)
    There is a reason Paul said this in Ephesians 4: 29 Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. (Message) Look at your words as seeds, because they are. In Matthew 13 Jesus gives us the parable about seeds and them growing. Later in the chapter He explains the parable and calls the seeds, “the word of the kingdom.” Let your words be seeds that produce life, not death, and know that your words are far more powerful than you think. Let’s use the power of our words to produce life, not death.

“Everything happens for a reason.”

    This is actually true, but not Truth. There is a huge difference between what is true and what is Truth. Everything does happen for a reason… but the way most people use this cliché is to suggest that God is in control, no He is not! I’m not suggesting that He couldn’t be in control if He desired to be, He simply has chosen not to be in control because love doesn’t control. God is love, and love does not have us like puppets on strings controlling our every move. Yet many of us think that God is in control.
    If God is in control then why do you even pray? He has everything in control and He has chosen when and why everything is going to happen. Why would He tell us to pray His will to earth (Matthew 6:9-10) if He has it all mapped out and we have no say in the matter? There is a massive difference between being in control, and being in charge. Love doesn’t control, God loves us into change (Romans 2:4). He doesn’t control us into changing. Being in charge is His position, and His way of taking charge is sending His Son to die on behalf of a world that wanted nothing to do with Him when He did it. His Son died once, so we could live forever. Love doesn't control, Love takes charge.

“What goes around comes around”

    Our actions definitely produce consequences. Consequences that are both positive and negative, but this statement is a Buddhist teaching not a Kingdom mindset of grace and Truth. Yes, we reap what we sow, but if we got what we deserved we’d all be going straight to hell. What’s coming around is called the Good News, and it’s the free gift of salvation to any and all who will call on his name. There is the curse of the law on anyone’s life until they simply say yes to Jesus and all that He paid for on everyone's behalf, but once a person confesses with their mouth and believes in their heart (Romans 10:9) that curse is broken (Galatians 3:13) and His grace is their portion.
    Grace doesn’t just set us free from what we deserve, God's grace has given us what Jesus deserved. Because of our sin nature He had to become what we looked like on the cross, so we could become what He looks like in the here and now. Now we get to look like Jesus in this world, 1 John 4:17 … because as He is, so also are we in this world. When God sees you He sees the perfection of Jesus, He extends what Jesus deserves to you.

“The grass is always greener on the other side.”

    2 Corinthians 6:2 … Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (ESV) The word for ‘salvation’ in the Greek is ‘sozo’ or ‘sótéria’ - welfare, prosperity, deliverance, preservation, salvation, safety, Strong’s Concordance. We often think of salvation as a prayer we pray and that gets us to heaven. It's unfortunate that the Gospel is presented and looked at this way so often, but here is the Truth. Jesus got us to heaven, us confessing with our mouth and believing in our heart is us receiving what Jesus paid for on our behalf, and He paid for complete and total wholeness in the here and now. The prayer is not an end ticket that gets us to heaven one day. The confession and believing in our heart is the beginning of us experiencing heaven on earth and its increase for eternity. Jesus didn't just pay for us to get to heaven, He did do that, but its far more than that. Jesus paid for heaven to live inside us in the here and now.
    Yes, obeying God will always lead you from glory to glory and it being ever increasing in nature (2 Corinthians 3:18), but the grass is outrageously green right where you are standing. This cliché is almost always used in a train of thinking that suggests that the big thing is never where you are now. This is not truth, enjoy the journey. The big thing is Jesus, and He is fully alive with all His goodness right here and right now inside the believer.

“Better safe than sorry.”

    Is this cliché true at times? I suppose so, but it is used in a manner that is most often promoting fear. John Wimber had this to say about faith, “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K.” Many people want more of the Holy Spirit, I understand we already have Him, but Jesus would not have told us in Luke 11:9-13 to keep seeking and knocking for more of Holy Spirit if there was not more of Him then we have already experienced. So do you want more of the ‘Comforter’? Would it make sense then that you will have to step out into situations that may make you uncomfortable in order to receive the revelation and experience of more of the ‘Comforter’?
    God calls us to big things. He calls us to be Light in dark places. If what you feel He is calling you to do can be accomplished in your own strength then I can assure you that you are not hearing the greatness of the calling He has for you. The cliché, “Better safe than sorry,” unfortunately dominates a lot of our thinking when it comes to stepping out in our true identity of bold faith. We are so focused on the possibility of failing because we don’t realize that we already have succeeded in Christ Jesus, 2 Corinthians 2:14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. (ESV) Failure is not possible when your seeking to obey His word. You may not see it happen right away but if you step into your true identity and believe His word over your experience, then your experience will become His word.  

    There are many more clichés we could look at, I simply wanted to provoke thinking that continually finds itself falling short. We have been bought with the price of God’s very Son bleeding to death on our behalf, we cannot afford to degrade our value. The value of something is determined by the price paid for it and God paid an extremely high price to restore us to our true value. Let’s let Him weed out silly things we buy into with our thinking, so we can be freed up to dream and think with the mind of Christ.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Tis The Season

Tis the season to be giving, being totally forgiven

 grants you full permission to give for a living.

Let generosity flow like a river, circumstances don't make you differ. 

His kindness is what we deliver. 

Let grace take it's place deep in the space that you encase, 

and flood each place with the glow of His face.

You've been embraced and all your mistakes have been erased. 

Be patient and grow in His amazement.

Spread His moist joy and let it be the voice that you employ. 

Hoist His loyal poise and boil in His oil of joy.

Lies are decoys that we avoid. Darkness is annoyed,

 and we destroy its void with a smile joined to the Anointed. 

You and bliss have been joined at the hips. 

You have been baptized in His mist of happiness.

Your heavenly Daddy and His activeness has lavished His kids,

 with the gift of an above average countenance.

 His success cancels our regrets,

 as we invest in all that He freshly erects in our life of rest. 

We might get stressed, but He is always at His best. 

As we get to embody Holy Spirit dressed in our flesh.

He surpasses the hype, so smear His life all over the fear that people hide. 

He died so we could stride in the high of His life. 

We are seated in His heights and never defeated in His eyes. 

While armored like an Ephesian for this fight. 

He empowered us with heavenly howitzers to bust, 

as the demons say 'wowzers' with disgust. 

His grace filled touch comes with a graceful facial,

 that will make you blush in His comforting clutch.

Share the goodness that cushions,

 the lamp of your soul that people look in. 

He never left you, He couldn't. 

He wouldn't, His love has smushed you into His bosom.

 As He holds you there it cancels confusion.

Now live your life of praise, wielding His Word as a knife the slices disgrace. 

So His life can take it's place.

Be the heavenly prototype that He has raised. 

You have been fortified in His fortress of grace.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Love Yourself

    Galatians 5:14 For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is complied with in the one precept, You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. (Amplified)
 
    If we could get a glimpse of what love does in the spirit realm, we would whole heartedly lay down everything to fully become love. “The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread,” Mother Teresa. Love is seeing with His eyes. When we see people the way God sees them, we can only see the gold in them, the destiny in them, the worth in them, and God in them.
    2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; 15 and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. 17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (NASB)
    We regard no one according to the flesh because we have His eyes and we are called to imitate God and not count people's trespasses against them so people can see God in us reconciling them back to Him. Loving ourselves and understanding how God sees us enables us to love people the way they should be loved.
     Song of Solomon 1:15 "How beautiful you are, my darling, How beautiful you are! Your eyes are like doves." (NASB) What was Solomon saying when He said, “Your eyes are like doves”? Song of Solomon is a back and forth romantic exchange between us (God’s bride) and Him (Jesus). Verse 15 is Him speaking to us. Doves represent Holy Spirit. Luke 3:21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” (NKJV) He says the same to you, “You are My beloved child; in You I am well pleased.” You have been pleasing to God before the foundation of the world, Ephesians 1:4.
    He sees us as being filled with Him. We have His eyes. Matthew 6:22 "The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. (NASB) The word for ‘clear’ in this verse in the Greek is haplous- unfolded, single – literally, referring to a single (undivided) focus, without a (secret) double agenda. When our agenda is to love with no strings attached we have dove’s eyes that are filled with the light of the world and the Kingdom within us cannot be hidden.
    Galatians 5:14… You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself. I believe people are loving others the way they love themselves, which is far below our standard. How are you going to love others the way they are supposed to be loved, if we don’t love ourselves the way we are supposed to? Ephesians 1:4 Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes (NLT). We are holy in God’s eyes. Holy in the Greek, hagios-different (unlike), other, holy; for the believer, hágios means "likeness of nature with the Lord" because "different from the world."
    We should see ourselves the way God sees us so we can see others the way Him sees them. We are the very likeness of His nature. We have been born from above. This is what it says in the in Romans 5:6 [For] When we were unable to help ourselves [still helpless/weak], at the right [or appointed] time, Christ died for us sinners [the ungodly/wicked]. 7 Very few people will [or Rarely/Scarcely will anyone] die for a righteous [just; pious] person. Although perhaps for a good [truly good; noble] person someone might possibly die [the “righteous” person may be someone who is outwardly religious, while the “good” person is genuinely generous and loving]. 8 But God shows [demonstrates; proves] his great [own] love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Expanded Bible)
    Jesus died for you when you wanted nothing to do with Him. Why? Because He sees your value, He sees who you really are, and He is going to love you right into it! That’s how we are supposed to love other people. We are supposed to see the value in them and point it out to them and then love them into it, because we are called to imitate God (Ephesians 5:1) and that’s what God does. But we can’t do it until we love and see ourselves the way God sees us through the blood stained lens of His perfect Son Jesus Christ. God sees you as 100% righteous in His eyes.
    You are a palace fit for a King. God seems to think so. That’s why He you washed you spotless. How much more can He love us? Colossians 1:22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault (NLT). God’s opinion of you will never change, He is absolutely bonkers about you. Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified (KJV). The word for sanctified is the same word for holy (hagiazó) in Ephesians 1:4.
    He LOVES you! You might say, “Well that’s great, but that’s not my experience.” We are not called to live by past experiences, we are called to live by Truth. Walk in, preach, and demonstrate Truth and your experience will catch up. God is patient and kind with us. He never dishonors us. He is not easily angered towards us and He keeps no record of our wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. He always protects, He always trusts, He always hopes, He always perseveres. God never fails, and He has given us everything needed (2 Peter 1:3) to imitate Him (Ephesians 5:1).
    The problem comes when we use our circumstances as the barometer of how much God loves us. You will never grasp how much God loves you if you measure His love for you by life’s circumstances. His love for us is not shown through our circumstances, it was already shown when Jesus died to make you blameless before the Father (Romans 5:8). There is a devil that comes to kill, steal, and destroy and if we gauge how loved we are by life’s circumstances then the enemy will keep you on shaky ground. Death, loss, or destruction is never from God. God loves you 100%, 100% of the time. This is not my opinion this is His Word, and His Word trumps everything. He says in Psalm 138:2 that His Word is above ALL things. So what He says about you through His written Word, He holds above all things!
    Psalm 139:17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You (NASB). Pick up a handful of sand and try and count just the grains of sand that you can hold in your hand. Good luck! Then look down the beach and try and count all the sand on the beach. Good luck! Good has more good thoughts about you than all of that. That would be a good verse to meditate on forever. “I cannot afford to have a thought in my head about me that is not in His,” Bill Johnson.
    So like I said at the beginning, I believe people in deed are loving others the way they love themselves, which is far below our standard. 1 Corinthians 6:19 Or didn't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. 20 God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body. (Message) People see God through you when you walk in love, and you will see people the way you see yourself. You will love people the way you love yourself.
    The loving eyes of God are set squarely on you and your amazing and wonderful value. He sees you as spotless and 100% righteous because of what Jesus did on the cross. John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life (WEB). God loves you so much that he put all your sins on His perfect Son, so you could be as perfect as His Son in His eyes. It would benefit us to love ourselves the way He loves us, so we can love others the way He loves them.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Our Rightful Position

You are the dwelling place of His heavenly blessedness, let His peaceful aggressiveness manifest.

The place where His answers turn into plans and just leak out of us and into the land we possess.

You are His battle axe that He uses after He laughs at the attacks of the devils habits and acts.

So receive His companionship with a fresh blast of the best of His joy filled manuscripts.

We are His bride and He is a romantic, He has the wine ready and the candles lite.

His love is so amazing it can be tough to handle it, His ample decent cancels all regrets.

Waves of His nourishment bring excellent encouragement that equip His kids in His firm grip.

Heaven on earth, you may have heard of this, believers bringing the surge of His bliss.

Be His living Temple that is fully furnished, full of the essentials as His love is all that concerns us.

We are evidence of heavens excellence and all creation is longing to get a glimpse of His eminence.

He turns indigents into men of greatness in the face of craziness, His loving assistance changes our existence.

We are heavenly citizens that joyfully enjoy the kid in us as we drift in the sense of  'It is finished'

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Creation Is On Our Side

    The universe is on our side. All things are geared to help us live in Christ and reveal His love and power to a world that is looking for Him. What a privilege we have to manifest Him and His love and victory to a world that so often subscribes to defeat.
    Luke 5:1- One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. (NASB) Gennesaret means garden of the prince, or a garden of riches. Our Father appropriately placed His Son in a garden fit for a prince and full of riches. We are placed in the same place in Him while we visit earth.  As we engage with creation we begin to see that we are immersed in a supporting cast that waits in intense expectation for us to be who God says we are. Creation understands how favored we are and sees our exemption from all penalties in Christ, so should we.
    Romans 8:19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. (World English Bible)
    Apparently creation knows God better than we do. Just think, if creation is waiting for the Sons of God to be revealed it has to be in such a position with the Lord that it knows what the finished product looks like while we are still waking up to who we already are. Creation is totally and completely on our side and willing to assist us in all we need, the curse on it doesn't lift until we realize who we are.
    Ponder on this for a moment... All the earthquakes in the new testament freed people, I think creation is getting tired of us thinking it wants to kill people when it is waiting for us to partner with it and save people. Look at Matthew 27:51-54, Matthew 28:2, Acts 16:26, and even Acts 4:29-31. It says the 'the place where they were meeting was shaken', after they asked for 'great boldness' and His 'hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus'. Once again creation responded to our realization of who we truly are. It's as if creation couldn't contain itself and got so excited it manifested in the natural after a prayer like that because creation knew that God would answer that prayer and the curse on creation would be lifted that much more.
    Matthew2: 9 ....and behold, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came and stood over where the young Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy. (KNJV) God lead the wise men to His Son Christ Jesus through creation. The wise had this revelation, because "they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy." It reveals to us that creation is leading us and drawing us deeper and deeper into the place of Him all the time, if we are open. A larger view of who God is, enables us to hear Him and see Him clearer. The Gospel is for us all, that includes creation. 2 Corinthians 5:19 ...God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. The Greek word for 'world' is the word 'Kosmos' -  the world, universe; worldly affairs; the inhabitants of the world. God washed the universe clean on the cross, and He was and is reconciling the entire universe back to Himself through Christ in us. All creation points and leads to Christ.
    Creation is passionately and aggressively calling out for us to realize we are to take dominion with the authority we have been given through Christ. God sees us through the lens of Christ and we have the privilege of re-presenting Christ to this world, it is far more simple to do so when we understand our highly favored position in Him. Christ lives in us and we get to do what He did, destroy the works of the devil with His authority!
    Our Father placed Jesus in a place that means garden of the prince, while creation was and is prophetically singing to the beat of Christ. Creation was singing and working with Christ to bring about His destiny, it’s no different with us. ‘Garden of riches’, Lake of Gennesaret (where Jesus was), is powerfully appropriate. Colossians 2:2 I want you woven into the tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God's great mystery. 3 All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. And we've been shown the mystery! (Message Bible)
    Trees (creation) even held Him up during His most glorious moment, the crucifixion. And after the Messiah gave up His Spirit their was an earthquake that raised holy people from the dead, Matthew 27:45-54. Creations response to the Messiah's crucifixion was to set people free, make people believe, verse 54, and raise people from the dead, because creation mirrors what it sees in the Spirit. If we curse people and places, the very words we speak are prolonging the curse on creation. When we speak life and blessings on people and places we lift the curse off creation so creation can partner with God and us to release His goodness on earth.
    Even during Jesus' Triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Luke 19, Mark 11, John 12, and Matthew 21 creation is screaming His goodness. He rode a donkey, they waved palm leaves, and as the pharisees asked Him to silence His followers He responded with, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." If we can't see His goodness, creation will yell loud enough to get our attention.
    Creation mirrors what God has for you, when we let our minds be renewed we see it. Luke 3:21-Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, 22-and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” (NASB) The Father used creation and spoke audibly to signify Christ’s reception of the Spirit ‘upon Him’, through a dove.
     A few years ago a Falcon starting following me, at times two falcons. The falcon still to this day comes and goes, but it was always there for about a year and half or two years. Even about a month ago this same falcon came and landed on a tree branch about 15 feet below me on a cliff and sat and stared at me for about 15 minutes. I preached the Gospel to my falcon, because the Gospel sets them free. When this started a few years ago my falcon even followed me when I moved from one residence to another. I saw it multiple times a week in all sorts of places, I even saw him in a different state while on vacation.
    I also heard it multiple times a week. It took eight months for me to understand one of the things God was saying through it. It is possible that He waited that long to tell me or I was just missing what He was saying. Either way it is a sign that makes me wonder. One of the things, and the most important, that He said was this, “You will know my voice as clear as you can differentiate the cry of that Falcon from other birds and you will see me as clear as you can spot your Falcon.” Falcon's have a very distinct cry and flight pattern and after hearing and seeing it for months, I could spot it from far off and know that it was my Falcon.
    Sometimes I wouldn’t see it, but I would hear it and I could differentiate my Falcon's cry from any other bird. Falcons have a very distinct flight pattern, and fly at high speeds with the ability to change direction quickly. God loves me so much that He would speak to me prophetically about my own future through the desperation of creation, which is desperate for us to be unveiled.
    God even spoke through a donkey, Numbers 22:28- Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" (NIV) I find it interesting that God spoke through a donkey to ask man why he was hurting it. As if to say, "hey, I'm on your side!" If God can speak audibly through a donkey, He can speak through any and all creation. Tune into His frequency and you will hear it.

   The trees applaud God and whisper of His broad and glorious calm.

Creation is so fond of our bond with God, that it hopes we hurry and respond. 

The birds scream in exaltation to the King and His fresh representation released through creation.

 A creative invasion gets unleashed in daily occasion through the winds and whistles that praise Him. 

He is blazing and He rests in all spacing within the basin that holds what you taste in Him. 

The ground you walk on was born with His DNA into its .COM, His roller coaster is free, hop on! 

Rolling fields of green speak of His soul wrapping its peace in our very being, 

while the breeze scatters His seeds in the lost that need His freeing. 

The endless waters foster His proper posture and unveil His majesty like a grand opera. 

He flicks flames at the distortion of the world’s portion and they melt from the force of His grin.

        Creation worships God and knows Him on such a level that it is waiting for us to catch up. As God changes the world inside you, He uses you to change the world around you. The creation around you will mirror the world inside you. Jesus slept in the storm. When He woke up from His nap He commanded the world around Him to line up with the peace inside Him, Mark 4:35-41.
    Everything has been reconciled back to our loving Father. What a privilege we have to manifest His kindness and truth to people, and all the Cosmos. Everything He has made is good, when we dare to believe it and look through that lens we see Him in everything.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

From Stone to Spirit

    The Word undoubtedly explains in many places how absolutely impossible it is to walk out the law of Moses. The purpose of the Law was and is to show you that you cannot do it. Romans 3:20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. (ESV)  The purpose of the old covenant law was to show you your sin, and how you need a Lord and Savior.
    This foundational truth is conveyed over and over again in the New Covenant. Romans 8: 3 The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. 4 He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit. (NLT) This is the heart of the Good News friends. In all your efforts it is impossible for you to earn right standing with God, impossible!
    Yet the glorious Good News is that the entire law of Moses has been fulfilled and is alive in you! Christ fulfilled it on our behalf and paid for our perfection so He could live in us. Matthew 5:17 "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.” (NLT) The commands of God are not to make your life boring and unfulfilled, rather the exact opposite. God’s commands are the path to a life so outrageously abundant that your normal countenance becomes “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Jesus took your sin, guilt, shame, pain, etc… and gave you His joy, freedom, mind, power, resources, and this list could continue. The divine exchange, He took what we deserved so we could live in ‘on earth as it is in heaven’.
    2 Corinthians 3: 6  He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit produces life. (HCSB) ‘He has made us competent,” HE! Jesus single handedly qualified you to be a heavenly diplomat, 2 Corinthians 5: 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (NASB) When the Father paid off your ransom through His Son on the Cross He paid it in full. Jesus paid for everything! Complete and absolute righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Romans 14:17) is your never ending portion. Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (ESV)
    We can stop dwelling on your sin. God has not only handled the sin issue once and for all, after He single handedly paid for it all He then equip you to walk sinless. No it’s not farfetched and heretical, it’s the Gospel. 2 Peter 1:3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, (ESV).
    Your sin nature has been removed from your being, all of Romans 6, and now you’ve been set free to walk in the Spirit, all of Romans 8. Romans 8: 1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. 2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (NLT) God sealed the deal on the cross for your purity and worthiness. Our minds and hearts are what need to get on page with Him and what He has already done!
    This topic is the very heart of the Good News and it will be unveiled with more and more clarity and glory from now until eternity. 2 Corinthians 5: 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us. (HCSB) Creation is groaning for you to understand your responsibility of walking out your inheritance in the Christ, and you have been given all ability to walk the exact same way the King did.
    One thing I've learned about Holy Spirit is that He can and does reveal multiple layers of Truth through one passage of scripture. As I have already written one blog on John 2, you can find it in my archives titled ‘John 2 Party Time!’, I am going to show you another amazing parallel of the New Covenant’s dominance over the old covenant’s. So let’s start by you reading John 2:1-12 on your own...
    John 2: 1 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. (NKJV) Let's explore some things here. The third day is symbolic of the resurrection and transformation. On the third day the fulfillment of all things arose victorious over all things. Now something that needs to be understood about this context, in Eastern culture the groom is more significant than the bride. In western culture the bride enters for all to see, in eastern culture the groom enters for all to see. This is an amazing prophetic picture of the groom (Jesus) entering for His bride (us, The Bride of Christ).
    Verse 2- Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. (NKJV) When you invite Him into the celebration life, your life becomes the party of heaven on earth. Where all things are possible, ALL things!
    Verse 3 and 4 explains how they run out of wine and His mother brings it to His attention. The wine is representative of the presence of God, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, Eph. 5:18 Paul uses the analogy of being drunk to being filled with the Spirit. We don't "do filled," that sounds funny. Paul said, "be filled," be who He says you are. Christ paid the bill for us to dwell with the infilling of the Spirit that inebriates us with the Love of God. The pleasures and promises of walking out the old covenant, found in Leviticus 26:1-13, are all fulfilled and are alive in and through your life. Christ did it, “It is finished."
    Verse 5 His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” 6 Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. (NKJV) The voice of wisdom is a female voice and spirit, Proverbs 8. Wisdom says to obey God so you can live in the never-ending blessings He has for you.
    It's important to catch this part.. The law was written on stone, the jars are made of stone. After Christ was resurrected He went into the tomb, and the stone (the law) was rolled away on the third day. Wisdom declares that the substance that went into the jars of stone must come out different, and forever transformed. Christ went into the stone, the law, which produces death, and fulfilled it and came out alive. “for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The letter, the Law written on stone. The Spirit, the wine of heaven, Romans 8:2 And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. (NLT)
    Verse 7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. (NKJV) Again, in the eastern culture the groom is more significant than the bride. When the substance went into the stone jars (made for ‘the manner of purification of the Jews’), it represented Christ fulfilling the law and defeating death and rising from the tomb after the stone was rolled away, the substance came forth as a new substance… a brand new creation never before seen by the world, that's you and I. Christ walked out the law to such perfection that He ‘filled it to the brim’, therefore He fulfilled the entirety of the law for all. You live in the fulfillment of all things, and He lives in you. You are sanctified and filled with all things, “the Kingdom is within you.” You are spotless, Hebrews 10:14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. (NASB) We are not in the process of sanctification, we are growing in the understanding that we are fully sanctified now.
    Verse 9 When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. 10 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” (NKJV) You are a new creation never before seen. You are from another realm, the realm of never-ending goodness, grace, power, and love. When people taste of the living water that flows from your belly, they will ask “what is this… where did it come from… who are you?” You are the substance of Truth that is being poured out to a world that is hooked on a substance of deception. Everything the world is looking for is alive inside those that believe.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Glory to Glory

We are co-heirs that have been co-risen, and co-missioned into the flow of His wisdom.

We are all efficient in His vision of bringing heaven to people's prisons.

You are centered in His authority, you are a living epistle, and His Sword to swing.

To your very core you are clean, washed in the blood of our gorgeous King.

You have been released to raise the deceased and increase His peace while partaking in the feast.

Evil will cease and bow its knee as we believe that we are free to speak His decrees.

And as you laugh at the fear, let it see the aftermath from the tip of your spear.

God's Glory is in your mirror, get in gear, destruction to darkness is why you are here.

Let His joy be so annoying to the demons that it destroys what there mingling in.

Sing with Him through your grin and let His wind manifest through your skin.

Cement your mindset in His kindness as His grace that is timeless reminds us we are His finest.

Now we are in alignment shining in the ease of His assignment, let your mind sit in His climate.

We walk like a Truth revolver that is infused in the hands of the Potter.

As His fire gets hotter our desire shifts into the image of the Father.

So we walk in His confidence and the prominence of what He already accomplished.

It's obvious that our Boss paid the cost that robbed us and washed us spotless.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Worship Breaks Chains

    The presence and comfort of God is available at any time and in any place, its true, Romans 8:35-39, Psalm 139:5-12. Paul wrote Romans after he experienced 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. Paul experienced the devils best attacks on earth and knew from personnel experience, not a theological mindset, that nothing could separate him from God's love and presence. But why is that when we worship God we feel Him stronger, more tangible, get more revelation, people get healed in the presence when no even prays for them, the atmosphere of cities begin to shift, and so on?
    Worship is our expression of gratitude to a Father that has given us everything. It's our response in this passionate love affair that we have with the God of the universe. The All Mighty God that bankrupted heaven, His Son taking ALL sin upon Himself, so He could dwell inside us. The romance of worship brings a little more awareness of how we are created in His image. It's also a landing pad, an atmosphere, for God to manifest more powerfully and do what He pleases.
    King David was such a passionate worshiper he says in Psalm108:1 My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart! 2 Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song. 3 I will thank you, Lord, among all the people. I will sing your praises among the nations. (NLT) He woke up his instruments so together they could wake up the sun worshiping. I believe it was a cry for the Son, whom David wrote about in Psalm 2:12 saying 'Kiss the Son'. King David had 24/7 worship for 33yrs in his tabernacle, Jesus lived 33 yrs and one of the names for Jesus is the Son of David.
    So worshiping is not a empty and broken child of God saying, "God please come and help me and do something." Its a child that is full of the Spirit of the living God saying, "Thank you that "It is finished", and that You have given me everything I need to complete the task You have laid out for me. Thank You that You love me so much!"
    In Acts 16 Paul and Silas get thrown in jail for doing the will of God. They were preaching the Kingdom, healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, and cleansing lepers, which is the will of God. Most often attacks on us are simply confirmation that we are disrupting hell's hold on people or things. Paul casts a demon out of a young fortune telling female in verse 18. Verse 19 says, But when her master saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities. (NKJV)
    Verse 23 says they had ‘many stripes laid on them’, severely beaten. Verse 24 says …. he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. The word stocks in the Greek is 'xulon' and part of the definition is that it was used to support the cross-bar of a cross in crucifixion. So Paul and Silas are in jail for doing the will of God and they are prophetically anchored to the cross, there is so much beauty in that.
    Verse 25 says, But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. - I don’t believe Paul and Silas were worshiping begging God to do something, I believe they were worshiping Him out of a place of gratitude that they could partake in His sufferings, and simply because God is good and He wasn't the one doing this to them. Verse 26 - Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. - When you create a landing pad for His presence to settle down, captivity cannot exist. In any way at all, ‘where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom’.
    27 And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. - It is not biblical for us to fear in the presence of darkness, it is biblical that darkness fears in our presence. Verse 28 But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” 29 Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” – The guards calling for light was much more than a calling for light in the natural, he was desperate for the light of Christ in his life. The guards desired the freedom that was in the atmosphere, the freedom in Christ. Often people's response to us carrying the light and presence of God is fearful, because people tend to fear what they don't understand. Love and truth is what brings the understanding to them.
     31 So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. – Worship not only brings us more freedom, it brings the people around us more freedom. 34 Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household. (NKJV)
    Just yesterday I had the pleasurable experience of spending the day in the broken city of Tijuana. I went with an amazing team of outrageously gifted people and God showed up powerfully! We went to a church family their that is full of the love of God. The morning service had a great message and after the message many, maybe 15-20, were physically healed on the spot. We then hit the streets for some treasure hunting and many were saved, healed, and prophetically touched by the Lord. Including Jesus healing a man of head pain, shoulder pain, hip pain, and a complete restoration of the nerves in his foot. The man left without pain or his cane, and received Jesus into his heart.
    The night service at the church was extremely powerful. The worship leader was powerfully touched by the Lord. Then she prophesied over her church, then she began worshiping again in the background and I released a word from the Lord about depression being gone from that church and God pouring out His oil of joy, Hebrews 1:9. As we continued to worship depression got crushed in that church. Many members of the church were crying the depression out of themselves. A woman that had never been to that church came in for the first time and she had just lost a child a month earlier. She said its as if God was speaking directly to her.
    As we continued to worship the guitar player was so blasted by the Lord that he cried/laughed for over an hour, he literally could not stop. People got physically healed and emotionally in a powerful way, as the atmosphere of worship destroyed the works of devil. Good Job Jesus!!
    Notice one more thing in the Acts 16. Acts 16: 35 And when it was day, the magistrates sent the officers, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 So the keeper of the prison reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Now therefore depart, and go in peace. 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us openly, uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they put us out secretly? No indeed! Let them come themselves and get us out.” - First off, Paul and Silas went back to prison. Yes, they returned after being set free. Why?
    Paul was lite up on a revelation of the Gospel that surpasses any I've ever heard of or seen, besides Christ Himself. He went back to display to the Romans that he was indeed a slave to Christ and not to them. Christ backed His word with power and freed them, but Paul could have told them he was Roman before the flogging and the imprisonment and they wouldn't have laid a finger on him and Silas. It sent such a powerful message to the Roman officials that it pumped them full of the fear of God.
    Acts 16: 38 And the officers told these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. 39 Then they came and pleaded with them and brought them out, and asked them to depart from the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed. (NKJV)
    Living for God with complete abandonment and worship creates endless opportunities for God our Father to show up and back His Word in outrageous power and love. Paul truly saw this, and explored the adventure in it. Worship and surrounding to the will of God breaks chains in ways so powerful that it is impossible for on lookers to deny it.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Truth Promotes Freedom

    The Gospel is simple, not always easy, but very simple. You are called a “believer” because you believe the things that God has spoken, pretty simple. We don’t get to pick and choose which things we believe or don’t believe in the Gospel. Kids naturally believe there Dad, we get the pleasure of doing the same. Let's not shout what He whispered, and whisper what He shouted.
    We can get more done in a day of believing, then we can in a lifetime of trying to work it up on our own. In Matthew 8:10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. (ESV) Jesus was marveled because the Centurion simply heard the word and let it birth God’s reality in him, which is what the very definition of the word for faith is in the Greek, pistis- faith is God's warranty, certifying that the revelation He inbirthed will come to pass (His way), Stong’s Concordance. The centurion had heard of the works of Jesus and His words and it birthed God’s guarantee that was in the revelation.
    It is that simple. Believe Him! Believing brings freedom, the ultimate freedom. Perfect peace of mind, Isaiah 26:3 The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You (NASB). A mind at peace hears God speak. Being able to remain in His peace that passes understanding will birth many of God’s promises in your life, every single promise that you will find in scripture goes to the believer. Promises don't just go to the "Christian", they go to the believer. The one who believes His promises and abides in Him, that person will see His promises come about. The amount of His promises in your life, or unfolding in your life, reveals what you believe about Him.
    Matthew 4:1-11 holds endless revelation on identity and believing. Jesus wasn’t shifted by the voice of the devil. John 10:5 “They won't follow a stranger's voice but will scatter because they aren't used to the sound of it." (Message) Jesus wasn’t just spouting off something He read from a Christian book, He was and is the Christian book! John 1:14 The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness and truth. (GWT)
    In Matthew 4 the Father leads His Son into a conflict, “The Holy Spirit will lead you into a conflict, but only one that you are equipped to win,” Bill Johnson. In Verse 2- And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. (NKJV) The enemy goes right for your weakness, or course he does he is a cheap-shot and a criminal, but God's strength is on powerful display in our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:10).
    Verse 3- And the tempter came and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." (NASB) “If You are the Son of God”, the devil revealed his hand here, as he always does. If he can get you to question who God says you are he is winning. John 8:31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who believed in Him, "If you continue in My Word, then you are truly my disciples of mine; 32 and you will know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free. (NASB) The only power the enemy has is the power we give him, you are free from the lies of hell when you know Truth.
    Now look at something here. The devil is extremely stupid! He has a very low IQ. The enemy is trying to trick the “Bread of Life” into making bread for life. The tempter, in all his stupidity, was trying to take His attention from hunger for intimacy with God to hunger for bread and even after 40 days and nights of not eating Jesus isn’t falling for the lies. That’s my King, He was Truth in the flesh.
    Verse 4- But he answered, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'" (WEB) Being fed from the banquet hall of heaven on a daily basis is what enables us to be the “Bread of Life” to a starving world. Real life comes from knowing the voice of God and hosting His presence. 2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (ESV). Knowing the Word of God gives you a context of how He speaks to us personally. He will never speak outside of His written Word, He may upset your understanding of His written word but He won’t speak outside of it.
    Verse 5-7- Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the Temple, and said, "If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, 'He will order his angels to protect you. And they will hold you up with their hands so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.'" Jesus responded, "The Scriptures also say, 'You must not test the LORD your God.'" (NLT) The devil is a fool, seriously he is one dumb chap. He is trying to trick the “Word made flesh” with the written word. How much more stupid can you be? The enemy was trying to trick the Living Word with his limited understanding of the written word. This is why knowing the Truth of the written word is a must. Then when the enemy throws lies in your mind or others speak outside of His Word and Truth, we know how God speaks in light of His word and we dismiss what is not Him.
    The devil was trying to get the exact representation of the Father (Heb. 1:3), Christ Jesus, to move outside of exactly what God was doing. The devil was quoting Psalm 91 in Matthew 4:6. The devil loves to quote scripture out of context, he absolutely loves it! The enemy did it here and tried nonstop to do it to Jesus through the mouths of the Pharisees. One of the devil’s favorite things to do is to manipulate the believers understanding of the Word and their identity. If you know or have read Psalm 91 you’ll see that God promises many things in that chapter, but the promises are to the one that abides in His presence. “Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you,” From Psalm 91 (NKJV).
    In Matthew 4:6 the devil was trying to manipulate the Word Made Flesh with the written word, the senseless tormentor does the same with us. We are to be the same person to this world that Jesus was, in the sense that we are to say what the Father is saying and do what He is doing. The exact represent of the Father has already been revealed, through the Son. Getting to know Jesus through the Word makes it much easier to know Him through the Spirit.
    In verse 7 Jesus is saying that He doesn’t move outside what God is doing, “You must not test the LORD your God.” 1 Corinthians 10:23 You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is good for you. You say, "I am allowed to do anything"--but not everything is beneficial. (NLT) Jesus could have jumped, but it wouldn’t have been beneficial. He loved God so He obeyed Him, John 14:23.
    Matthew 4: 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” 11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. (ESV) This passage reveals so much of the enemies lack of intelligence and schemes. The enemy tried to get the Son of God to bow down and worship him so he could give Him “all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.” That would have been a massive downgrade for the King, seeing how He owns EVERYTHING in heaven and earth.
    There is nothing worth pursuing that is outside the Kingdom of God, and "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom,” Luke 12:32. Jesus is the Kingdom, and you don’t receive Him in portions, you receive Him in person. You get all of Jesus at once, the unveiling is getting to know Him and how He is.
    The enemy cannot see the future, but it’s as if he as a general idea of what’s coming. He has seen it over and over again, and he knows that we move from glory to glory and that it is ever increasing. It’s as if he can sense the breakthrough about to happen, so he comes and tries to offer fool’s gold in an instant. Often, God is about to give the pure substance and massive increase right around the corner.
    The devil only lies, it is the only resource he has to choose from, John 8:44. Why would we want to even entertain his nonsense, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy,” John 10:10. Now the other half of John 10:10 is where all goodness flows from, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus didn’t just come so that you would have life, He came so that your life would be ever increasingly more abundant! It is a never ending revelation of how much of Him we already have, and we have all of Him already.
    We keep our eyes on the One that already defeated that loser the devil and we will always manifest His Victory. We are not called to find the devil and defeat him, he is already defeated (Colossians 2:13-15). We are called to keep our eyes fixed on the Author and Perfecter of our faith, the One that writes and perfects our ever increasing belief in the Perfect One and all that has already been accomplished by Him. Knowing Truth (which is a person, Christ Jesus) is what frees you up to always manifest Him and His victory.

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com 

Freedom and Fun

Holy Spirit has the assignment to remind us, of God's never ending kindness.

His goodness is timeless, love is the only way He thinks, and He has given us this mind of His.

He waged war to fully restore His kids to the wholeness that dwells at the core of His.

Through all ages He has poured His bliss on His kids, in one accord with a loving kiss.

Sit in the saturation of heavens habitation, follow your heart and gravitate towards facing Him.

He gave grace to men and saved us from sin, we now stand in His win and in His hand with a grin.

This drastic change came and removed our stains and fueled His flame.

Now we have exchanged a deranged pain and have been framed in His fame as a Saint.

You cannot exaggerate His goodness, just look into the bliss of these promises He gives.

You are already fixed just exist in the Truth of His script for your life lived.

The presence is where you will, learn to share the essence of His will.

Be still and know that He heals, be still and know that He shields, be still and know that you've been sealed.

Walk in His abundance, talk of His Oneness, and watch His thunderous love pummel us with a hug.

This isn't dumb luck, and there is no runner up. We have all entered in to the wonder of His Son.

He is better than you can fathom, and has fully restored the screw up of Adam.

You are tapped in to the heavenly tavern, raptured into our glad Dad and His grin. 

For more resources 

Erikfrederickson.com 

Erikfrederickson.wordpress.com