Preparing the Bride of Christ For His Return By Janet Van Hierdan
A Tale of Two Brides is now available on Amazon.com:
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Another Coffee Break:
Aphiémi Healing, Part 30
May 16, 2014
A quick note before we get started today: due to increased family activities on Fridays with the encroaching summer, more and more people are finding Friday nights an issue to join us for our Healing Prayer Call. Accordingly, we are temporarily suspending our Friday night calls until the need requires its resumption. Meanwhile, we continue to minister to folks on Mondays and Wednesday nights at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).
For months, now, we've been focusing on healing, on the Table of the Lord as it relates to healing, and to the Covenant that Jesus Christ made on our behalf which is demonstrated so effectively and so phenomenally with His Table. I'd like to take another crack today at describing this Covenant we have in Christ, with Christ, and the co-equal benefits we (both Jesus and us as Covenanted believers) receive.
Let me begin today by saying that if Jesus Christ is going to get His benefits from the covenant He has made with us and on our behalf, we MUST become His co-equal partners. I keep saying this, and it is at the center of all covenants: those who enter into covenant regard each other as co-equal. Covenant shores up our weaknesses. I know some folks have a struggle with the idea that Jesus has any weaknesses -- and from our perspective, He absolutely does not. From Jesus' viewpoint, however, until we have been transformed and conformed to His image and likeness, He is incomplete, lacking, and minus His counterpart, His other self.
Perhaps I can render this another way. Covenant completes us. Jesus has made Himself to be incomplete without us. (I will get to that picture in a moment.) We are, without doubt, incomplete without Him!
Jesus fulfilled both parts of the Covenant -- His part as the provider and enforcer, and our part, which required the shedding of blood for the remission (aphiémi: eradication) of all past sins, iniquities, failings, etc., and -- more than that -- the curse that brought about sin, sickness, disease, infirmity and demonic affliction. In his general letter to the Hebrews (the Jews scattered abroad), Paul expressed it this way.
"Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:3. KJV)
" But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God, From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." (Hebrews 10:12-13, KJV)
This phrase, "sat down," is an expressive metaphor from the Hebrew meaning that He finished everything that He needed to finish and fulfill on our behalf. The expectation that His enemies would be made "His footstool" was His expectation that we would do our part, empowered by Him, to defeat those enemies. Perhaps we can get into this a bit more as this discussion proceeds.
Where I want to take today's discussion is to show you the concept -- from Jesus' perspective -- of His being made complete in us. That, my friends, is what being co-equal is all about. That is what THIS covenant was ordained for.
Take a look at something that Paul writes in his epistle to the Romans.
"For those whom He [the Father] could foresee and know [their choices and decisions] beforehand, He also did ordain and determine to become jointly formed and fashioned into the image and likeness of His Son, so that He might be first begotten son among a multitude of brothers and sisters.
“Furthermore, those whom He ordained and determined [by virtue of knowing in advance their choices and decisions] He also called, beckoning them in their inner beings; and those whom He called, He also determined and declared to be innocent [rendering judgment of them beforehand]; and those whom He determined and declared to be innocent, He made glorious [magnifying them as He magnified His Son].
“What shall we say, then, regarding these facts? If God the Father be for us, having made these determinations on our behalf, who can possibly succeed in opposing and withstanding us?" (Romans 8:29-31, my translation with amplification)
Now are you beginning to get the picture? Do you see where we stand with the Father? Do you see where we stand with Jesus Christ?
God the Father has determined to have for Himself a family. He -- in concert with Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit -- made this determination before Creation ever unfolded. If you take the concept of family, you understand that you WILL have an older brother who is the firstborn. But that older brother is going to have younger brothers and sisters; and those brothers and sisters have all the same rights of inheritance and access to the resources and assets of the family that the older brother has access to.
The older brother's position gives him some rights of determination and delegative authority on behalf of the younger family members, but positionally he is treated as co-equal with his brothers and sisters. All of the siblings have equal access to, and use of the family resources, along with the family's authority and power by virtue of their extreme wealth.
Put that in context, now, to Jesus Christ as our older brother. Consider His statement to the disciples as He prepared to leave them: "All (exousia) privilege, force, authority, power and jurisdiction is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. You go, therefore, [by virtue of your relationship to and with me] and disciple, instruct and teach all nations, tribes and ethnic groups and peoples, immersing them in the (onoma) character, the makeup, the power and authority -- the very essence -- of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them to observe, guard and protect all that I have charged you with [in every respect, without compromise or redaction]; and take notice of the fact that (eimi) [all that] I am [have been, and ever will be -- the totality of my existence] with you, even unto the final and total completion of this age. So be it!" (Matthew 28:18-20, my translation with amplification)
Jesus, therefore, was commissioning His disciples to go forth in, with, and through ALL of the power and authority that He had -- and Brother, was that ever SOME power and authority! Look at what Mark records concerning this same event.
"[All of] you go into every area and segment of the world and proclaim, herald, declare and preach the good news [that I have given you] to every single creature. He that believes, implicitly trusts in, exercises faith, and is immersed [in the character, makeup and essence of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit]] shall be saved, healed, delivered, preserved, caused to prosper, and made completely whole; but he who disbelieves [refusing to trust in and exercise faith] shall receive sentence and judgment [according to the Law].
"And these (semeion) distinguishing signs, evidences, wonders and proofs [of my commission to you, and your relationship to and with me] shall accompany and closely follow you: In my (onoma) character, makeup, power and authority -- the very essence of who I am -- they shall cast out demons (evil spirits); they shall speak with fresh new [and previously unlearned] languages and tongues; they shall take on (serpents) artful, cunning and malicious persons whose arguments cannot and will not dissuade; should they drink or partake of any deadly, poisonous thing, it shall not hurt or injure them in any way; they shall lay hands on the sick, the infirm, those who are weak and without strength; and they shall recover, mend, and see their infirmities cease." (Mark 16:15-18, my translation with amplification)
No promise or prophecy of the Lord could better describe our co-equal status. These are the distinguishing signs and evidences that followed and accompanied Jesus. Fully one-third of all the miracles that Jesus performed as recorded in the Gospels incorporate the casting out of demons, as Jesus exercised the authority that was His to exercise.
The remaining two-thirds of His recorded miracles include the raising of the dead, healing of the sick and infirm, cleansing the lepers, commanding the weather, commanding plant-life such as trees, walking through walls, disappearing in the midst of crowds, taking on the Serpent following his 40-day fast, along with other (serpents) artful, cunning and malicious Scribes and Pharisees whose legalistic and twisted demonic arguments from Scripture could not and would not dissuade Him, and -- surprise, surprise! -- remitting the sins of people even before He had gone to the Cross.
I've always been a bit amused at folks who think that Jesus was advocating the handling of snakes. EVERYTHING He prophesied of and to "them that believe" was a demonstration of exactly what He had accomplished and fulfilled during His three-and-a-half years. Jesus never handled snakes, but He DID take on serpents -- regularly! He referred to the Scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees on more than one occasion as a "generation of vipers," meaning of course that their lives, their motivations and their speech were artfully crafted to manipulate people and lead them into further legalistic bondage, away from the relationship with God purposed from the beginning.
Everything, therefore, that Jesus promised to and prophesied of His followers was something they had a proof text for in His life and ministry.
I know that some folks have tried to become so technically picky (legalistically artful and manipulative) with the Scripture as to suggest that these "signs" and evidentiary proofs of the "Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following" (Mark 16:20) applied ONLY to the apostles and disappeared shortly after the turn of the century.
These same doubters and unbelievers promote the idea that apostles and prophets died out in that same time frame, and that Paul's statements in I Corinthians and Ephesians are to be ignored because the body of Christ has already "come to the unity of the faith," having been perfected at the Cross.
It really is one of the looniest doctrines I've ever heard. It defies any rationale concerning Paul's preaching on apostles and prophets roughly 30 years after Jesus ascended, and forces one to dismiss whole portions of God's Word if they are to believe such nonsense. Those who "artfully craft" and "maliciously use" God's Word so as to seduce believers and keep them from their full covenant benefits are nothing more than a modern "generation of vipers."
If we are seated with Christ in heavenly places -- as Paul writes in Ephesians 1:20-23, "Far above all principality, and power, and might and dominion, and every name (onoma) that is named, not only in this world but that which is to come: and hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Ekklesia (not church) -- that called out and betrothed company of people by the Bridegroom -- which is His body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all," then we most certainly ARE co-equal with Jesus Christ!
When have you ever seen a body-less head accomplish anything? When have you ever seen a headless body accomplish anything?
NOW do you understand covenant?
We've been fitted together and joined together with Jesus Christ as a living, breathing extension of Him. If you'll pardon the rather oversimplification, He is us, and we are Him. Whatever He does, He does through us. Things don't happen without our participation. Jesus Christ does not randomly, mystically, perform miracles in the earth, or work some kind of sign and wonder in the earth without the direct participation of His covenant people.
We have and live a covenant that requires our all. Jesus has made a covenant with us that requires His all -- and the last time I checked, He hadn't left anything out or stopped His covenant partners from living in, and operating in all that He is and has.
Folks, His covenant is as alive and breathing today as it was when He said, "All (exousia) privilege, force, authority, power and jurisdiction is given unto me in Heaven and in earth. You go, therefore.." .
That's OUR responsibility. Our covenant responsibility to the Lord is to do the works that He did, to preach the Word that He preached, and -- moreover -- to fulfill His prophetic Word,
"Truly, of a surety, I declare to you, He who puts their full faith and credit in me, entrusting their entire well being to me, shall not only take care of my business, performing the same acts, deeds and [miraculous] works that I do, he shall enlarge upon them, working and accomplishing greater, stronger, more powerful [and magnificent] acts and deeds because (and by reason of) I leave to join with [and be seated with] my Father.
"And whatever [deed, act or work you have seen and heard of me] you desire, call for or require in My (onoma) authority, makeup, nature or essence, that will I perform and accomplish so that the Father will be rendered and esteemed glorious, being magnified in and through the fully matured and patterned Son." (John 14:12-13, my translation and amplification)
Finally, finishing up with some Scriptures we used last week:
Ephesians 1:18-23 (NASB): "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
Ephesians 2:4-7 (NASB): "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Do you see where this leads?
We've been seated IN CHRIST and with Him in the Heavenlies. That's our legal position! Jesus paid the necessary -- COVENANT -- price so that we would once again have access to the Throne with all the authority and power necessary to make Jesus' enemies His footstool.
Again, if you are in need of healing -- especially if you have some terminal disease or prognosis of a very short time to live from the doctors -- please join our prayer conference calls on either Monday or Wednesday of each week at 7:00 PM Eastern. Once again, the number to call is (805) 399-1000. Then enter the access code: 124763#. Let us minister to your need for healing!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
Our book, A Tale of Two Brides, published by Destiny Image, is now available on Amazon.com as an E-book: http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Brides-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00BSV6HZC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1363139096&sr=8-8&keywords=A+Tale+of+Two+Brides#_
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Another Coffee Break:
Aphiémi Healing, Part 29
May 9, 2014
Dale Petersen and his wife, Merlee,
pastored a fellowship in Spokane for a number of years known as Springs of
Living Water. Della and I first met them
through mutual friends in late 1990 or early 1991. There was an instant bond that formed between
us, and over the next decade or so we had a wonderful level of fellowship
together. As we moved into the new
millennium, Dale began to experience Alzheimer's, and by late 2002 it had
virtually wiped out his recognition of friends and family, and at the same time
he seemed to lose his voice.
By this time, Della and I were in
McAllen, Texas where I was overseeing the construction of what would become one
of the Telemundo network's premier stations.
For at least three years, Merlee and other family members cared for him
without his having any recognition of who they were. Meanwhile we were all praying over Dale and
declaring his healing and recovery.
One morning in mid-2005, I received
a call from Dale's brother. He said,
"I have someone here who wants to talk with you." I heard him hand the phone over to someone so
I said, "Good Morning!"
Immediately, a very familiar voice answered clearly and responded,
"Brother Regner, the Lord is preparing to do great things!"
A wave of emotion swept over me as I
heard Dale's voice. "Brother!"
I exclaimed. "How are you
doing? Tell me what has happened!" Dale choked up and began speaking in tongues. His brother took the phone and explained that
without any warning whatever that morning, Dale had gotten up, dressed himself
and began speaking as clearly as he had ever spoken. Merlee (who was at that time a senior VP with
Bank of America) was already at work, and was unaware of Dale's sudden
recovery. Dale's brother told me that
one of the first things Dale said to him was, "I need to speak to
Regner." That precipitated the
phone call. We were able to talk to each
other again for a few minutes before they hung up to call Merlee with the good
news.
The family was able to enjoy Dale
for only a short time thereafter before his health faded and he slipped into
eternity. It has always struck me that
the first thing that took place when Dale regained his mind and speech was the
importance of delivering that short prophetic word to me. I saw also that no matter how far gone a
person is with Alzheimer's, complete healing and recovery is a piece of cake
for the Lord, and we need to quit being intimidated by the disease and take the
authority given to us in Christ Jesus.
This
past week has been a week of continually unfolding revelation, and I would like
to try and share some of it with you today.
Let's begin with a scripture that is more and more being quoted as the
body of Christ moves into this last great Harvest.
John 14:12-14: "Verily, verily, I say
unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and
greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that
will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will
do it."
Let's
see if I can amplify this for you from the Greek text.
"Truly, of a surety, I declare to you, He who puts their
full faith and credit in me, entrusting their entire well being to me, shall
not only take care of my business, performing the same acts, deeds and
[miraculous] works that I do, he shall enlarge upon them, working and
accomplishing greater, stronger, more powerful [and magnificent] acts and deeds
because (and by reason of) I leave to join with [and be seated with] my Father.
"And whatever [deed, act or work you have seen and heard of
me] you desire, call for or require in My (onoma) authority,
makeup, nature or essence, that will I perform and accomplish so that the
Father will be rendered and esteemed glorious, being magnified in and through
the fully matured and patterned Son.
"If and should you desire, call for and require anything in
My (onoma) authority,
makeup, nature or essence, I will perform and accomplish it completely."
There
are many pictures revealed in Jesus' statement and I'll get to some of them
shortly, but first I want to add some additional scriptures for foundation.
I John 5:14-15: "And this is the
confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his
will, he heareth us: And if we know that
he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we
desired of him."
Again,
let's amplify this from the Greek:
"And this is the frank and outspoken public assurance we
have and possess in Him, that should we desire, call for and require anything
of, in accordance with, and in proportion to His expressed determination,
desire and pleasure, He hears, understands and responds to us. And if we see and know with certainty that He
hears, understands and responds to us, no matter what we desire, call for and
require, we know absolutely that we have, hold and possess the thing we have
desired and required of Him."
Now,
consider something that Paul wrote to the Philippians. There are very few believers today who
haven't accessed and quoted this scripture to themselves.
Philippians 4:19: "But my God shall supply
all your need according to His riches in Glory by Christ Jesus."
But
look at the way this is expressed in the Greek text:
"But my God will of a certainty furnish, satisfy and
execute
(colloq. "cram to the max") all your business,
your demands and your requirements out of, and in direct proportion to, His
wealth, riches, money and abundant possessions in Glory, magnificence and praise
by and through the anointing of the Anointed One, Jesus."
Is
that a mouthful, or what?!
Brother! For centuries the body of Christ has been
sold a bill of goods! Nowhere in
anything we see, read or hear in the Word does it indicate that we come timidly
before the Lord and ask quietly in a mousy voice, kinda, sorta hoping He might
deign to pass out some morsel or crumb.
We've been deceived into thinking that we somehow don't have the right
and/or that we just aren't "deserving" of "His riches in Glory."
Take
a look for a minute at two Greek words which occur in these texts: (1: aiteo) and (2: chreia). The first word, aiteo (pronounced:
ah.he.tey.oh), mostly translated "ask" in our English translations,
is not a timid word. J. H. Thayer, in
his Greek-English Lexicon, describes aiteo as "a demand
of something due."
This
is a different word from the one we would normally use in the context of
"asking" or making a hopeful "request" for a favor. That word is, punthanomai. That is NOT the word that Jesus uses, and it
is not the word Paul uses in his epistles in any reference to our relationship
with God.
Then
we come to the word, chreia. Rendered as "need" in our English
translations, it has its roots in chraomai, which means
"to employ, to furnish what is needed." Chreia, on the other hand, occurs within the
context of business, to provide what which has been agreed to by contract or
covenant; hence, "a demand note."
I
have frequently used the illustration from Costco or Sam's Club where a person goes
in to purchase something. The item is
shown behind glass or in a security setting.
The purchaser takes a slip of paper to the cashier with the item's
identifying number and pays for it.
Having been paid for, the cashier now calls to a warehouse employee who
picks up the slip with the ID number and goes to retrieve it.
That
slip of paper with the ID number has become "a demand note." The item being requested has been paid
for. The employee is given a demand to
retrieve it and deliver it to the customer.
I
can use the same illustration in check-writing.
I need to purchase something or pay for a service which has already been
rendered, or has been requested. The
vendor or supplier takes my check to the bank and "demands" that
money be transferred from my account to his.
My check is his authorization to demand those funds.
By
now it should be clear where this discussion is going. Jesus has already paid the price. We've already seen that His body suffered 39
stripes with an equivalent of 351 lashes tipped with lead to gouge out pieces
of His flesh. All that He did to pay IN
ADVANCE for every sickness, every disease, every infirmity, every demonic
affliction of our body. To add to that,
He suffered a crown of extremely long thorns shoved into His scalp and His
skull, penetrating His brain. In so
doing, He took all of our mental and emotional torment upon Himself, paying for
it so that we would not have to endure that torment ourselves.
Then
He finished things off by going to the Cross, being crucified, having whatever
blood remained in His body drained to the ground, and having expired, had a
spear thrust into His side at the same place where the bone was taken from Adam
to form Eve. Out poured blood and water,
and with it the curse of pain associated with child-birth was taken.
Jesus
then went to Hell for three days and three nights, dumping off all of the sin
of mankind, all of the sicknesses, diseases, infirmities and demonic torment
and leaving them where they belonged -- with Satan.
Lastly,
He took the keys of Hell and Death as Father raised Him from the dead,
restoring Him to His rightful place as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Was anything left undone? Was there some price He didn't pay that made
all that He went through insufficient for us?
Are we still supposed to be subject to Satan?
NOPE! NOPE!
And DOUBLE NOPE!!!
You
see, in all that He did, Jesus established a new Covenant on our behalf: a
divine contract in which He fulfilled both sides -- His and ours! All we need do is accept and acknowledge that
every price necessary has been paid for whatever we need or require. This Covenant that Jesus established puts
each and every one of us who place in Him our faith, confidence and absolute
trust -- IN HIM!!
Get
it? We are now IN HIM! We have shifted places, and we have shifted
dimensions (and I'll talk more about that next week). Here's how Paul describes it in his letter to
the Ephesians:
Ephesians 1:18-23 (NASB): "I pray that the
eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope
of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the
saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who
believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His
might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and
seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far
above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And He put all things
in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the
church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all."
Ephesians 2:4-7 (NASB): "But God, being rich in
mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead
in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been
saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing
riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."
Do
you see where we are going with this?
We've
been seated IN CHRIST and with Him in the Heavenlies. That's our legal position! Jesus paid the necessary price so that we
would once again have the same access that Adam and Eve had. They were multi-dimensional beings. They had the ability to move back and forth
between time and eternity. They were
able to see what Father God desired that they duplicate here on earth.
Sin
severed that ability. Adam and Eve once
had everything that Heaven offered. In
the Garden they lacked for nothing. That's
the way things were designed from the beginning. Sin caused the light in their veins to
congeal into blood. (Now don't look at
me like that! Bear with me!) It took a blood sacrifice under the Law to
atone for (archaic English word meaning: to cover over, or to hide) sin, since
every human being born into Adam's lineage once they had sinned had the DNA of
sin in them. Hiding the sin wasn't
enough, however. It had to be eradicated
and eliminated from existence as though it had never been.
Jesus
was the only one whose DNA came from Heaven, and yet because He was born into
the human race, He qualified to become the once and for all sacrifice that
would eliminate the curse and restore the interdimensional access we were
designed for. Once He rose from the dead
and ascended into Heaven, He was able to stand before the Universal Court and
to testify that Satan's hold was eliminated, and that those people who would
accept the fact that His blood sacrifice DID pay the necessary once and for all
time cost necessary for restoration could have that interdimensional access
once their testimony agreed with His.
(I'm
sort of getting ahead of myself here and laying some groundwork for the next
Coffee Break.)
The
point I'm trying to make is that Jesus went to the cashier and paid every price
for everything that we could possibly and conceivably have need or desire
for. Let's go back to John 14:13 again.
"And whatever [deed, act or work you have seen and heard of
me] you desire, call for or require in My (onoma) authority,
makeup, nature or essence, that will I perform and accomplish so that the
Father will be rendered and esteemed glorious, being magnified in and through
the fully matured and patterned Son.
You
understand, I'm sure, that we don't get to make requirements or demands on the
storehouses in Heaven that we haven't heard or seen in Jesus. We don't get to make up stuff! Neither are we "demanding" that
Father give us what we are requiring! We
are seated with Jesus, and we are seated in Him! Therefore, our requests, our requirements,
our demands, our declarations and decrees are coming and being accomplished
because they are coming in, through, and out of Christ Jesus.
Just
as Jesus never did anything He didn't see Father do, neither do we. Just as Jesus never spoke anything He didn't
first hear from Father, neither do we!
Understand?
Our
demands are NOT on Father! Our demands
and requirements are NOT on Jesus! They
are on Satan!!!!! Anything that we have
need of once we are in Christ, any area of healing, deliverance or provision we
have need of is taken back from Satan.
He has been, and IS the liar, the thief, the murderer, the tormentor,
the jailer. We were designed to be rich
in every way! Satan -- in the form of
the spirit of Mammon -- continually and consistently, steals, withholds,
deceives and blocks every effort for God's people to have their covenanted
wealth. God's people are supposed to be
the healthiest people on earth -- not those who live after Satan's agenda. God's people are supposed to be the
wealthiest people on earth -- not those who steal, kill, destroy and deceive in
order to get as much money as they can.
We
have a covenant in Christ Jesus, folks!
Everything we could possibly have need of spiritually, physically,
mentally, emotionally and materially has been paid for. It's all available IN CHRIST! All we have to do is surrender the demand note
so that it can be retrieved for us and transferred into our possession.
I've
really only scratched the surface of this.
Let's stop for now and pick this up again next week.
Again, if you are in need of healing -- especially if you have some terminal
disease or prognosis of a very short time to live from the doctors -- please
join our prayer conference calls on either Monday, Wednesday or Friday of each
week at 7:00 PM Eastern. Once again, the
number to call is (805) 399-1000. Then
enter the access code: 124763#. Let us
minister to your need for healing!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A.
Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP
CENTERCAPENER MINISTRIES
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
Our
book, A Tale of Two Brides, published by Destiny Image, is now available on Amazon.com as an
E-book: http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Brides-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00BSV6HZC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1363139096&sr=8-8&keywords=A+Tale+of+Two+Brides#_
All
Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for
reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted
–provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee
Break archives are available at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com. Coffee Break articles are
normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate
and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either
of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
Another Coffee Break:
Aphiémi Healing, Part 28
May 2, 2014
One quick note before we get started today: For those who have tried the last two weeks to access our Sunday fellowship conference calls, we were offline for a couple of reasons, and this past Sunday, Rich Warren and I were away, leading worship for a men's retreat at Fort Flagler. Our Sunday conference calls will resume this Sunday at or around 12:30 PM PST (3:30 PM EST): (559) 726-1300, Access Code: 308640#.
Leading worship at the Fort Flagler retreat (for the Full Gospel Businessmen's Fellowship) this past weekend was an adventure all its own! With roughly 120 men in attendance, we became both participants and observers in the workings of Holy Spirit. Sunday morning when Rich and I began (and we had Craig Manley's help on the drums), I began to sing a prophetic song from the Bridegroom to the Bride. It was styled musically like a piece of very upbeat jazz. Some of the men began dancing in the aisles, some clapped their hands and stomped their feet, but others stood in the aisles literally bawling their eyes out. It was a real contrast in seeing how Holy Spirit ministered to the men. One man received a new heart and a new liver.
Well, let's see if we can wrap up the portion of this discussion I was aiming at last week in addressing the healing of the mind, the memories, the thought processes and the traumas that have been left over in our inner beings as a result of mental or emotional injury in time past.
As the title of this series -- Aphiémi Healing -- clearly indicates, what Jesus has done for us is to eradicate all of the past for us from a legal and judicial standpoint. Aphiémi, which comes from aphesis, literally means to eradicate from existence -- not only blotting out sin, sickness, disease and death, but implementing a time shift (if I can use a sci-fi term) for us such that the sin, the sickness, the disease and death never existed!
OK, now! Don't look at me in that tone of voice. I didn't make this up. Every time you see the word or the term, "forgive", or "forgiveness" of sin, or "remission" of sin used throughout the New Testament, the original Greek word is aphiémi. That word means to erase, to separate, to cease completely, to reverse (in the sense of going back to a time before it took place), to send away. I know that we've covered this definition before, several times, in this series of Coffee Breaks, but just wanted to refresh you on its significance.
We've talked about this before as well, but here's how Paul puts it in his letter to the Philippians (and in order to amplify it in such a way as to draw a complete picture, let me expand upon the Greek text more fully): [See Philippians 3:10-15]
"That I may know and have full revelation of Him, and the dynamic, explosive power of His resurrection, with the full understanding and communion of the passion, the emotional and mental suffering he endured, being joined with and conformed to His physical death [*see note]; if somehow I might arrive at and experience resurrection from physical death.
"It's not as though I had already arrived at or accomplished that state of completion or perfection, but I am in full pursuit and pressing forward [with every particle of my being] in order to come to and possess that place, that goal, that standard [of completion] Jesus Christ eagerly awaits and has sought after in me;
"My brethren, after taking inventory of myself, I do not consider that I have achieved or seized hold of that goal, that objective set before me, but with one singular goal and purpose, I set aside, I forget, I lose completely [any awareness] of all that I have gone through, experienced or known, and -- stretching beyond my past or present for those objectives, goals and purposes [Christ has set before me],
"I pursue after [with every ounce of my being], seeking eagerly that visible and tangible mark which indicates with certainty that I have won and obtained the prize, the reward -- that place of unity and intimacy with the Lord -- that ultimate invitation to be joined to Christ Jesus as a part of His Bride.
"Accordingly, let all those of us who have the certainty of that high calling of God in Christ Jesus, having achieved whatever level of completion [He has accomplished in us by His Spirit], condition and discipline our minds and thought processes [to never settle for less than the ultimate goal and destiny in Him]; and, should there be any area of thinking or mindset which would cause you to settle for less in your pursuit of Him, God will remove the fog or smokescreen which contaminates your thinking and reveal His goal, HIs objective and His destiny to you."
That's a mouthful, I know, but I trust it comes across with clarity for you.
*Let me take a minute to address a phrase that occurs in verse 10: That I may know and have ...... the full understanding and communion of the passion, the emotional and mental suffering he endured... The KJV translates this phrase, "that I may know ... the fellowship of His sufferings." There are a couple of Greek words here that are really important to understand. The first word, koinonia, while it can, I suppose, be translated "fellowship," really describes something that the word "fellowship" really fails to grasp. I'll come back to this momentarily. The second Greek word of note is pathema. This word, which describes hardship and pain -- mostly within the framework of mental and emotional anguish -- makes much more sense here once we see the full picture of the word, koinonia.
Koinonia, is one of those words best framed within the context of another horribly mistranslated Greek word, ekklesia. Ekklesia, as I have noted in previous Coffee Breaks, is the word which is almost exclusively translated "church" throughout the New Testament. Because of what we picture "church" as today, and because of what it has become, AND because of the origins of the word, nothing could be further from the truth of what ekklesia actually represents.
In the book titled: A Tale of Two Brides, published by Destiny Image, and available at Amazon.com, I noted that this word, ekklesia, was coined by the Alexandrian translators as an approximate way to translate the Hebrew ya.ad, and its counterpart, mowadah. These Hebrew words are often translated as "the tent of meeting," or "the tabernacle of the congregation" in our English texts of the Old Testament. In fact, the real meaning of these terms is "the calling and assembling together of the betrothed by the bridegroom."
Ekklesia is coined from two Greek words, ek, meaning: "out of," and, kaleo, meaning: "called" or "the calling." The picture of ekklesia, therefore, is the calling and assembling together [by the Paraklete, Holy Spirit] for the purpose and preparation to become the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. Contrary to the structure and concept of "church," Ekklesia is NOT something a person can join, or become a member of. No one can decide to become a part of an ekklesia.
They are joined together by Holy Spirit with others who have the same call. They are joined together in a relationship which Holy Spirit designs as an intimate bonding together -- a place where the fellowship becomes so strong, that one would literally give himself or herself for the others. A level of trust is established between those who are joined together in ekklesia so that they can chip and grind away and rub up against each other to bring change, correction, admonishment and encouragement to one another until -- as Paul puts it in Ephesians 4 -- "we all come to the unity of the faith , and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."
THAT's what ekklesia is all about! It most assuredly is NOT church or anything remotely resembling what we know today as contemporary church life. Contrary to a lot of terminology used today among Christians, we are NOT "The Church"! We are the body of Christ. We are not a bunch of organizations or denominations; those are man-made structures which absolutely violate the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ. What we are is a living organism -- the organic, intimately-connected, life-breathing and Jesus-manifesting collection of individual ekklesias forming the larger Ekklesia.
And that brings us back to the word, koinonia. Koinonia is something which indicates intimacy. This word describes community, communion, sharing, becoming one with, having joint participation and interchange on a level of complete trust and confidence -- and here's the key -- in a bond of love!
I can see some of you looking at me like I just fell off the turnip truck. (smile!) You're thinking, how in the world did we get here? What does this have to do with Paul's statement in Philippians? OK. Ready?
We come back to the way it is phrased in the KJV: "that I may know ... the fellowship of His sufferings," as well as my amplified translation from the Greek: That I may know and have ...... the full understanding and communion of the passion, the emotional and mental suffering he endured...
Here's where we encounter the word, pathema. Pathema doesn't work in a casual, social setting. You're never going to see that kind of passion and emotion where you are not vested in a relationship with someone or "some ones." This word only describes intense pain, emotional or mental agony that comes out of a very personal and intimate relationship with others.
Jesus became so vested in us and so loved us even before we ever came out of the womb into this world that when He took our pain, our suffering, our diseases and sicknesses, AND -- most of all -- the curse which was upon us, He experienced an emotion and a mental anguish that far transcends anything we comprehend.
Luke describes the agony Jesus went through on our behalf in the Garden of Gethsemane like this (see Luke 22:44) : "And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground."
What we are seeing here is precisely what Jesus came to do, to accomplish and to fulfill on our behalf. You remember where we were a couple of weeks ago in talking about Isaiah's prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 61? Jesus quoted Isaiah's prophecy as being fulfilled in Himself when He began his ministry by saying, "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD..."
Without going through all of the definitions again from the Hebrew text, what we have is a perfect picture of this realm we've been discussing about healing for memories, emotional wounds, traumas, broken hearts, as well as deliverance from evil spirits. For many weeks now, we have been talking about the ending of the curse that came upon the human race with Adam and Eve's partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Jesus eradicated that curse! He remitted -- He forgave completely all of the sin that came of that curse for all those who enter into the covenant He has provided. That's aphiémi!
But folks, there is a requirement on our part. The divine Covenant Jesus has provided is not passive. We don't get to push an aphiémi button and get instant deliverance, instant healing, instant freedom from the captivity of the Enemy without participation in this process.
NO, we don't put Jesus back on the Cross and crucify Him all over again just because we fail! When we first enter into this Covenant, there is a recognition that Jesus paid the entire price for our salvation -- our sozo -- and everything that is a part of that package. One thing we seem to forget, however, is that we are triune beings just like Jesus. We are first and foremost spirit. Secondly, we have a soul which consists of our identity, our mind, our thoughts, our emotions, our character and makeup. Third and last, we have a physical body to house soul and spirit.
When we first come to Jesus and enter into His covenant, our spirits are immediately saved, delivered and set free. To use the common vernacular, we are "saved," Now comes the process as Paul describes in Romans where we "work out our salvation with fear and trembling." Now we participate in the process. We are completely legally, judicially free of sin, sickness, disease, infirmity, evil spirits, poverty, etc. But that's not the same as being experientially free, and that's where our participation comes in.
I don't have the time in this Coffee Break to go into all of the aspects of that participation, but following up on the mental and emotional healing, and healing of the traumas of the past, let's simply take on the confessional aspect of our participation.
Here's how Paul puts it in writing to the Corinthians: (See II Corinthians 10:3-6)
For though we live, deport and comport ourselves by that which we see, hear, taste, smell and touch, we do not contend with, war after and execute military strategies [against Satan] by that which we see and hear, know intellectually, or have opinions of:
For the weapons and instruments of our war and executed actions [against Satan] do not have their origins and [weak, impotent] operation in natural flesh and human abilities, but they are skillful, potent and powerful – like dynamite – through God to the demolition and extinction of all fortified and guarded places of opinions in opposition,
Bringing down violently and demolishing (to total extinction) all mental reasonings and thought processes, and every mental barrier or arrogant and self-elevated attitude that justifies itself in opposition to the knowledge of God; bringing into captivity and making a prisoner every perception of the intellect and every mental purpose or determination to the compliance and submission of Christ and His anointing [in the same way that He complied with the will and desire of the Father];
And holding in readiness and preparedness the [spiritual] fitness to vindicate and punish all refusal to hear what the Spirit is saying when your attentive and obedient submission has been satisfied fully and executed.
Understand? What Paul is addressing here is the warfare that goes on in our minds and our emotions. We are at war spiritually, folks. Non-stop! Our deliverance from the Enemy comes by the casting down of imaginations -- EVERY imagination which sets itself up against anything and everything that God says and does, and everything that Jesus has made available to us. Casting down those imaginations, however, is not simply a mental process. It requires our speaking to the imaginations -- OUT LOUD!
Let me wrap up today's Coffee Break with something I've come to say often to folks throughout the years: Thoughts do not chase away thoughts: words chase away thoughts. What we speak is what makes a difference in our lives.
See you next week.
Again, if you are in need of healing -- especially if you have some terminal disease or prognosis of a very short time to live from the doctors -- please join our prayer conference calls on either Monday, Wednesday or Friday of each week at 7:00 PM Eastern. Once again, the number to call is (805) 399-1000. Then enter the access code: 124763#. Let us minister to your need for healing!
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTERCAPENER MINISTRIES
Sunnyside, Washington 98944
Email Contact: Admin@RiverWorshipCenter.org
Our book, A Tale of Two Brides, published by Destiny Image, is now available on Amazon.com as an E-book: http://www.amazon.com/Tale-Two-Brides-Relationship-ebook/dp/B00BSV6HZC/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1363139096&sr=8-8&keywords=A+Tale+of+Two+Brides#_
All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to: Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.
CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.
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