Servias Ministries Blog

I have pondered the last forty-one years of spiritual training.  In 1987 I was made aware of my calling.  I am personally convinced that I was given the calling before I was formed in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5).  Our Heavenly Father put us here at this time in history, not by accident but by HIS perfect plan, will, and purpose.  The “Faith” movement was in full swing in the 1970’s and I embraced all the was being taught.  I read every book I could get my hands on.  I listened to teaching tapes at least six times each.  I immersed myself in the teaching of faith.  Our Heavenly Father was pleased enough to confirm HIS Word in me.  Miracles did happen.  Healing, health, financial miracles, etc. all occurred before my very eyes.  There was no question of the fruitfulness of faith.  But then a transition came after my missionary trip to Romania in 1993.  Suddenly the fruitfulness of the past 22 years waned and I knew things were drying up.  It was like the Ark had been moved and nobody noticed.  No longer were the miracles flowing like they once were.  It was like we were living in the past.  Our Heavenly Father had commissioned me to begin praying an hour each morning before work, beginning in 1990.  Everyday HE would wake me up at 5:00 AM.  That was our deal.  I would pray from 6 to 7 then begin the business day.  That went on throughout the decade of the 90’s.  In 1996 HE separated me from the Pentecostal church age.  It was time to “leave the camp” so HE could train me directly without a pastor as an intermediary.

For the past 16 years HE has had me in a cleansing cycle.  HE sent me to Biblical Law school to be exposed to the 613 Commandments and Statutes.  In the late 90’s I was one of twelve men called to a Bible Law project to be posted on the Internet.  All but two of us walked away from the project but I had committed to participate and was compelled to fulfill my commitment.  This project was completed by early 2000.  In the last 16 years, HE has sent me on prophetic trips, studied the Law, and finally moved my focus to Love.  I believe this is the culmination of my training in preparation of my calling.  I also believe that I am not alone in this time of preparation.  Yes, many are called but few are chosen.  What does it take to be in the chosen group?  I believe it takes a willingness and acceptance of taking on the full character of Our Heavenly Father.  Jesus did.  Signs and wonders followed Him.  I have observed the Feast of Tabernacles over the last 16 years and have been a speaker at many of the meetings.  These times were preparation of something much greater than anything that happened in the Pentecostal era.  We had to go through that era as part of our training but it was not the culmination of our callings.  We then needed to go through a cleansing period.  I see the completion of that cycle.  It is now time to expect fruit of the Tabernacles period to come forth.

Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:2 And though I have [the gift of] prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 

In the past, we have focused on both faith and prophecy but was it in the context of walking in Love?  The evidence and observation would say “No”.  The extremely good news is that this is changing.  As we embrace the fullness of Love, faith is ready to operate with the proper intent.  When faith is operating by Love, the fruit will remain and be observed to be good fruit.  People will respond and the Kingdom will be established on earth as it is in Heaven.  We should now expect to walk in the fullness of faith and power as we embrace Love as our primary motivation.  That is the correct priority!

Psalm 18:21 ​​For I have kept the ways of the LORD, ​​And have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 ​​For all His judgments were before me, ​​And I did not put away His statutes from me.

In this passage, “ways” is the Hebrew word derek and is defined as:

1) way, road, distance, journey, manner

a) road, way, path

b) journey

c) direction

d) manner, habit, way

e) of course of life (fig.)

f) of moral character (fig.)

The word has two attributes to focus on: intent and direction.  The Scripture indicates that the direction of Our Heavenly Father’s “ways” leads to restoration and life.  More importantly HIS ways are first determined by intent.  Intent precedes direction and action.  Love is the primal intent of Our Heavenly Father.  Until you view all of Scripture by this primal intent of Love, you will be unable to fully understand HIS ways.  Time after time Jesus would explain the ways of Our Heavenly Father.  Men would interject their ego into the Scripture to create tradition.  Jesus was a tradition buster.  Each of us must ask the question: “What is my intent?”  Is your intent self-preservation or to be a blessing to mankind?

If you want to know the ways of Our Heavenly Father, you must focus on Love, HIS most fundamental essence of character.  If you fail to focus on the intent that brought salvation to mankind, how can you truly know the fullness of HIS ways?  To walk in Love you must focus on Love.  If you focus on everything else, you will not fully know HIS ways.  You must back up to the “intent” of all HIS acts, Law, and prophecies.  If you become like HIM, you will know HIS intent and walk in the same intent.  You can then be trusted to bring forth the Kingdom for you will only speak what Our Heavenly Father directs you to speak and you will only do what Our Heavenly Father directs you to do, motivated by Love.  When a Father sees a son who can and will fully represent HIM because the son thinks, acts, and responds in the same manner as the Father, HE will hand him the Kingdom and will proclaim “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.”

In Matthew 17 we are given an interesting account of Our Lord Jesus Christ in a glorified body:

1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. 7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” 8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

9 Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying,“Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.”

10 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

11 Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 12 But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.  (NKJV)

This account is placed in here for us to glean some revelation of glorification:

“Now after six days” is prophetically six thousand years which happens to be our current time period.

Jesus only took a subset of HIS disciples to see first hand this glorification, a representation of the overcomers.

Moses represented the Law which occurred in the past at Mount Sinai; the Old Testament.

Elijah represented the prophets who spoke of future events to come.

Jesus represented the here and now.

Peter suggested that they build tabernacles for all three, a reference to the Feast of Tabernacles where on the eighth day the glorification comes.  Then something very interesting occurs.  Our Heavenly Father speaks and says “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”   Our Heavenly Father did not reference Moses (the past) or Elijah (the future),  only Jesus in the here and now.  Don’t get me wrong, it is important to study the Law and the Prophets but in the end they point to the revelation of Jesus Christ whom we are to emulate.  If we only focus on the past and future, then we will produce no fruit today.  Jesus was able to take on a glorified body before HIS resurrection.  HE was able to communicate and operate in the Heavenly realm talking to both Moses and Elijah.  Dare we operate as Jesus operated?  As HE is so are we!  (1John 4:17b)  This is the goal of our Sunday Bible Study.

Our first Bible Study had 16 Internet Viewers and 12 attendees. The number 16 represents Love in Scripture, a nice confirmation.  Thank you for attending.  Our focus is to manifest HIS Love to the fullest.  We followed Chapter 1 of the book “Ascending to Love” and focused specifically on forgiving those who betray us.  This dovetails in with Stephen Jones’ message in St. Louis on the Law of Victims’ Rights.  “Forgive them, they know not what they do.”  Additionally we explored the impact of 1 John 4:17 (b):

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

As HE is, so are we!  Think about it…  We will continue this theme throughout our Bible study.  We are transitioning into a new dispensation and should expect to operate with same power and authority, motivated by Love… as was Jesus.  We expect our callings to come into full operation as ordained by Our Heavenly Father.  We expect to see good fruit manifested to HIS Glory.

Our next scheduled Bible study will be Sunday, October 21st, at 3PM Central Time.  For those who attended on the Internet we will be set up to be more responsive in the chat session.  As we proceed, I expect our broadcast will improve and that Our Heavenly Father will reveal mysteries that have been reserved for this time.

As a reminder, we will live stream our Bible study at 3PM Central Time today.  You can watch it live at http://www.ustream.tv/channel/the-baptism-of-love

It is called the “Unity153 show”.  There is no charge for this week’s telecast.  However, we will probably have to utilize ustream’s pay-per-view in the future.  It will be 99 cents per hour each week which is cheaper than going to any Bible study.  It is definitely cheaper than constructing a church building.  Hopefully you will consider the Bible study a worthy investment.  Servias Ministries is paying the cost for the non-advertising channel.  We don’t want their ads to take away the focus of Our Heavenly Father’s Word.  Since this study can be viewed anywhere in the world, we hope it grows in viewership. 

I have set up a wisefire.tv account to allow viewers to interact with us during the study.  Our group is “Unity153”.  You can sign up and join the discussion… assuming we don’t get overrun with questions.  This is our first attempt so bear with us as it evolves.

2 Timothy 1:7   For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and a sound mind.

As we pursue the fullness of life as described throughout Scripture, we find that Jesus Christ is the personification of this walk.  HE is our greatest example.  HE was subject to the same challenges that we face everyday and fully understood our walk.  Our flesh would have us believe that there is no way for us to walk in the same power and authority so therefore do not pursue it.  Our flesh would have us focus on just about anything else other than this walk.  The adversary also wants us to pursue any other walk as well.  It was necessary for Jesus to be tempted of the devil before HE started HIS ministry.  Jesus was tempted with the fundamental carnal desires in an attempt to keep HIM from walking in power, Love, and “self-discipline”.  The enemy of this walk is fear.

Paul understood this reality when he wrote to Timothy.  He had to encourage Timothy that he had access to the Spirit of power and Love and to walk in the Spirit.  The fear of failure is directly tied to the ego.  What will people think if I fail?  We all know that we have walked an imperfect life but we want to project the facade that we are somehow superior to the failures.  We attempt to exalt the old man.  That is the place of unfruitfulness. 

I can attest that when you pursue this revelation of power and Love you will be challenged on several fronts.  Those challenges are designed to test your commitment to overcome the old man.  It is not much different than many of the physical challenges we face today.  It is much easier to sit on the couch than to pursue a disciplined physical workout regimen.  It is much easier to sit in a pew week after week and let someone else seek a new revelation from Our Heavenly Father.  We sanction laziness, unfruitfulness, and a slow death.  “I came that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly.”  These are the words of Jesus who only spoke what HE heard HIS FATHER speak.  Here we have a word of direction from Jesus yet we resist the path that leads to life.  We need to embrace the new man and lay aside the old man.  Yes, we will have resistance.  We will rationalize why we shouldn’t pursue this path.  But deep down our spirit knows that there is more to life than your current state.  It is available now.  We all marvel when miracles come forth and prophecies are fulfilled.  The problem is that we are often distant observers, not participants.  There are plenty of miracles available for all of us to experience and the need for those miracles are as great today as ever before.

Embrace the Spirit of power and Love and self-discipline and then start expecting fruit to come forth.  Don’t be denied.  Don’t let initial failures to dissuade you from pursuing this path.  Jesus was challenged, you will be too.  It is written!

Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering;

13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

14 But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

“Put on” is an action we must take here and now.  Some doctrines would suggest we have nothing to do, no accountability or responsibility.  That attitude goes against the essence of life.  We are to “occupy” until HIS return.  "Go into all the world”, “say unto this mountain”, and “plant seed” are all actions associated with maturity in Christ.  When we were children we were takers catered to by the teachers.  We were unable to give because we did not understand how to be fruitful, we had nothing to offer in our immaturity.  As we grow we should produce fruit that can be observed by others to be good fruit.  My fruit is different from your fruit but we all should work together as a body fitly joined together.  If any part of a body is not productive, it dies and is removed.

In Colossians the “elect” of Our Heavenly Father are given the attributes to “put on”.  Above all, put on Love, the bond of perfection!  How simple can it get?  Those that yearn for the manifestation of the Tabernacles age and want to be in the middle of it must go on to maturity.  How can you call yourself mature without having put on Love?  Will Jesus say to you “I never knew you”?  Paul tells us that many things will pass away but Love will remain.  Why is it that Love is not the center of teaching, study, etc?  It is because the “old” man knows that he must die if this revelation of Love comes into its fullness in an individual.  If the old man dies, the blindness departs along with the self preservation, manipulation, and the subtleties of divisiveness.  Exalting oneself in various subtle ways will be exposed and will require removal.  This most fundamental, deep-seated fear prevents many from pursuing the revelation of Love.  Everyone who has seen the revelation of Tabernacles wants the transition to occur but most do not want to pay the price to enter in.  Some would have us believe that we have no responsibility and that Our Heavenly Father will by HIS sovereignty change us against our will.  We have been told to choose life or death, we have the choice.  Do I believe that we all be ultimately reconciled to Our Heavenly Father?  Yes, without question.  However at what point do we enter into the fullness of HIS rest is the question.

Love is the bond of perfection.  Love demands action.  John 3:16 was fulfilled because Our Heavenly Father acted.  Jesus acted to fulfill Our Heavenly Father’s plan.  Love is at the center of Salvation, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the bringing forth of the Kingdom on earth.  Eternal hell does not have Love found anywhere in its doctrine.  Would you send your son or daughter to an eternal punishment?  No, you would correct them no matter how severe in order to restore them.  Why?  It is because you love them.  To me it is self-evident that Love is the greatest revelation that we could pursue.  There is a notable difference in our current fruit and the fruitfulness of Jesus as HE walked in HIS earthly ministry.  Our old man would have us believe that we cannot operate in the same fruitfulness as Jesus.  But I hold on to the truth HE spoke when HE said we would do “greater things”: John 14:12 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.

Isn’t time that we quit settling for anything less?  How long will we use the excuse of previous ministries who abused the anointing and power thus we are reluctant to operate in the Gifts of the Spirit?  Love is in the here and now.  People are in need right now!  Isn’t it time we embraced the Bond of Perfection and started producing the same fruit that Jesus produced?

This is the ultimate goal of our upcoming Bible Study.  Am I perfected in Love yet?  No, but as I am a man after GOD’s own heart and Love dwells in the middle of HIS heart.  I want to become like My Heavenly Father so I will pursue all aspects of HIS most basic character trait- Love.