Soaking Prayer by Wendy Backlund

Soaking Prayer

I am passionate about encouraging people to add "soaking prayer" to their pursuit of God.

Soaking prayer adds a new dimension to our relationship with the Father. It is not about talking to Him, but about listening, and experiencing Him. Soaking prayer is based on a belief system that God is supernatural and wishes to relate to His children in supernatural ways. Soaking prayer is about receiving supernatural impartation, revelation and visions.

This is not a time for correction from the Holy Spirit. It is a time of intimacy. Come by the blood of the Lamb, knowing that He can talk to you later about issues needing to be taken care of. He desires a time to love on us and strengthen us with His Presence. Human relationships need this also, where we get together just to have fun and fellowship. Problems or issues are shelved for later, at the appropriate time. 

The goal is to get over our addiction to words and allow God to speak to us, "Spirit to spirit."

There should be no striving or begging for Him to come. By faith believe that as you sit in His presence, He is there. Receive - just like you do at the gas pump (filling up on an unseen substance that is valuable). Whether you "see or hear" something is not necessarily important, but by faith believe that you "soaked" up the substance of His Glory.

Our bodies are like the anointed handkerchief in Acts 19 that healed people. We soak-up His substance and it permeates our physical body.

I recommend worship as a gateway into His presence. As you worship, feel free to use your sanctified imagination to picture the throne room, heaven and the unseen realm. Allow yourself to "go with" any vision or thought that is from the unseen realm of God's Kingdom.

Hab. 2:1 "I will watch and 'see' what the Lord will 'say.'" Unconsciously we limit God from speaking to us because we are straining to hear words. Habakkuk understood that God wasn't limited to speaking with language.

I believe that sitting quietly is key for building a relationship with God. In the stillness of our soul, His presence speaks. While we are waiting for Him to speak to our mind, He is waiting for an opportunity to speak to our heart. 

Often I have to verbally take my thoughts captive unto Christ and actively receive the substance of His presence and peace to flow through my soul and spirit. Experiencing peace, not having Him tell me is what peace is. It is in this place of rest that my spirit receives revelation rather than information.

To grow into maturity, we must know God the Father more intimately. Our highest call is to not teach about God but to reveal Him.

Unless we experience and soak up His presence our relationship becomes cerebral rather than actual. We know about it, but we can't live in it.

Beholding the Presence by Bill Johnson

BEHOLDING THE PRESENCE

      by Bill Johnson

---

"I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. You will show me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

                                                                                                Psalm 16:7-8, 11

            "For David says concerning Him, 'I foresaw the Lord always before my face.'"
                                                                                                            Acts 2:25

David is saying, "I set the Lord before me." How did David do this? He set the Lord before him by recognizing His presence. We can do the same as we learn to adjust our hearts until we realize, "He's here." The ongoing realization of the presence of the Lord—the awareness of God being in us, upon us, and with us—is one of the most vital elements to the Christian life.

David became the great leader over Israel by leading them into prosperity, blessing and their greatest military victories. They finally received all the land that was promised to them, all those years from Joshua onward. David came and brought them into their inheritance. David was a great leader because he was the greatest of worshippers and the greatest of warriors. David wasn't even a Levite, but he was the ultimate priest. I believe he was so effective because of this principle. I have sought to pursue this principle every day in my own life. I set God before me by becoming aware of the presence of the Lord who is with me.

Our confidence levels skyrocket when the presence of the Lord becomes manifested to us. The clearer the manifestation of His presence, the greater the dimension of faith. To live by the theory of His presence is wrong. To say, "Well, I know He's always with me" is not good enough. That truth must launch us into an experience, or we're violating the truth. Truth is given as an invitation for divine encounter so that we would know by experience that God is upon us and God is with us.

David's entire life as a warrior and a priest was focused on this one thing: to daily take time before Him until we can see Him. Since we can't imagine a place where He isn't, we might as well imagine Him with us. The imagination is a tool that God uses to express Himself in and through us. The imagination is to be harnessed and yielded to the Lord so that in the process of yielding it becomes sanctified, and the sanctified imagination is positioned to perceive Him. The Bible goes so far as to say, "Having our senses trained to discern good and evil." Through this process of training our senses, we become able to recognize the presence of the Lord. David gives us this key, the absolute heartbeat of his life, as if he is telling us, "This is how I made it. Every day I beheld Him with me."

I feel that David's experience is a summons to the same privilege and responsibility to turn our awareness towards His presence, and in doing so, we invite the increase of that manifestation. As a result, when we behold the Lord, we have far greater success and far greater joy by ministering not out of principles but out of His presence.

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Why Oils Heal and Drugs Do Not

WHY OILS HEAL AND DRUGS DON’T by David Stewart, Ph.D.
(The full and complete article reprinted with permission from Dr. Stewart)
If you tell a medical doctor that essential oils can bring about healing with no negative side 
effects, they won't believe you. This is because medical school students are repeatedly told 
by their professors that all effective medicines have negative side effects, and if they don't, 
then they can't be effective. 

When I was in medical school, one professor emphasized this point in a colorful, graphic 
manner with specially prepared slides. In each slide specific drugs were depicted as evil 
looking demons or goblins. As he presented each picture, he explained, "Although 
ugly and capable of doing harm, these 'demons' are also the bearers of some good. So long as 
the benefits outweigh the risks, we use them," he summarized. "We have no choice," he 
continued, "because if a drug has no dangers, then it can have no benefits. That's just the way 
it is. And that's why it is essential that only qualified physicians be allowed to prescribe 
medicines," he concluded. 


Actually, the professor was telling the truth. Within the restricted practice of allopathy (MDs) 
the only real medicines are physician prescribed pharmaceuticals. Such medicines always 
do have negative side effects. All of them. No exceptions. Hence, doctors are trained to accept 
the bad with the good as the price of effective medicine.


The Danger is in the Drug, Itself


The dangers of prescription drugs are intrinsic to the drugs, themselves. No matter how 
careful the physician in prescribing and how compliant the patient in following doctor's orders, 
even then deaths and damages occur. In fact, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease 
Control, more than 100,000 Americans die every year, not from illegal drugs, not from drug 
overdoses, not from over-the-counter drugs, and not from drug abuses, but from properly 
prescribed, properly taken prescriptions.


In this country, more people die from doctor's prescriptions every ten days than were killed in 
the 9/11 terrorist attacks.


Why is this so? Why do allopathic drugs always have undesirable effects (along with their 
apparent benefits) while one can find healing with natural products, such as essential oils, with 
no undesirable effects? Here is why.


Why Companies Deliberately Sell Dangerous Products


It is illegal to patent any natural product. The way to big profits in the medicine industry is to 
create an unnatural substance that never before existed in nature, then patent it and obtain a 
monopoly. Hence, the molecules of pharmaceutical drugs are all strange to the human body. 
In all the history of humankind, such molecules were never encountered or taken into any 
human body. Hence, the body does not easily metabolize them. God never made 
your body to accept and deal with these chemicals and antibiotics. Hence, you can find traces 
of prescription drugs in your body that were taken in childhood, decades ago. 


On the other hand, natural molecules, such as those found in essential oils, are easily 
metabolized by the body. In fact, your body was created to handle them. When an essential 
oil molecule finds the receptor sites it was designed to fit and conveys its
information to the cell or participates in other therapeutic functions, it then goes on its way to 
the liver and the kidneys and moves out of the body. Its benefits have been conveyed and its 
job is complete. By contrast, the unnatural molecules of man-made drugs attach themselves to various tissues, disrupting normal function, for years while the body tries to figure out what to do with them. 
Meanwhile, they wreak mischief with our bodily functions and even our minds.


Drugs versus Oils 


Drugs and oils work in opposite ways. Drugs toxify. Oils detoxify.


Drugs clog and confuse receptor sites. Oils clean receptor sites.


Drugs depress the immune system. Oils strengthen the immune system. Antibiotics attack 
bacteria indiscriminately, killing both the good and the bad. Oils attack only the harmful 
bacteria, allowing our body’s friendly flora to flourish.


Drugs are designed to send misinformation to cells or to block certain receptor sites in order to 
trick the body into giving up symptoms. But drugs never deal with the actual causes of 
disease. They aren't designed for that purpose. While they may give prompt relief for certain 
uncomfortable symptoms, because of their strange, unnatural design, they will always disrupt 
certain other bodily functions. Thus you always have some side effects. 


Oil molecules send information to cells and cleanse receptor sites so that they bring your body 
back to natural function. Oils are balancing to the body. Drugs are unbalancing to the body. 
Oils address the causes of disease at a cellular level by deleting misinformation and 
reprogramming correct information so that cells function properly and in harmony with one 
another. With drugs, misinformation is fed into the cells so that some temporary relief may be 
obtained, but there is never any true healing. Drugs only trade one kind of disease for 
another. 


Because essential oils properly applied always work toward the restoration of proper bodily 
function, they do not cause undesirable side effects. They are feeding the body with truth. 
Drugs feed the body with lies. While no amount of truth can contradict itself, it doesn't take 
many lies before contradictions occur and the body suffers ill effects.


Doctors Speak Out


Not all physicians are caught up in the idea that the only good medicines are ones that can 
also be harmful. Here are some comments by physicians themselves.
"The cause of most disease is in the poisonous drugs physicians superstitiously give in order to 
effect a cure." Charles E. Page, M.D.
"Medicines are of subordinate importance because of their very nature, they can only work 
symptomatically." Hans Kusche, M.D.
"The person who takes medicine must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the 
medicine." William Osler, M.D.
"If all the medicine in the world were thrown into the sea, it would be bad for the fish and 
good for humanity" O.W. Holmes, M.D. (Professor of Medicine Harvard University)
"Every drug increases and complicates the patient’s condition." Robert Henderson, M.D.
"The greatest part of all chronic disease is created by the suppression of acute disease by drug 
poisoning." Henry Lindlahr, M.D."Every educated physician knows that most diseases are not appreciably helped by medicine." 
Richard C. Cabot, M.D. (Massachusetts General Hospital)
"Medicine is only palliative, for back of disease lies the cause, and this cause no drug can 
reach." Wier Mitchel, M.D.
"Medical practice has neither philosophy nor common sense to recommend it. In sickness the 
body is already loaded with impurities. By taking drug - medicines more impurities are 
added, thereby the case is further embarrassed and harder to cure." Elmer Lee, M.D., Past 
Vice President, Academy of Medicine.
"We are prone to thinking of drug abuse in terms of the male population and illicit drugs such 
as heroin, cocaine and marijuana. It may surprise you to learn that a greater problem exists 
with millions of women dependent on legal prescription drugs." Robert Mendelsohn, M.D 
(author of book, "Confessions of a Medical Heretic)
"Drugs never cure disease. They merely hush the voice of nature's protest and pull down the 
danger signals she erects along the pathway of transgression. Any poison taken into the 
system has to be reckoned with later on even though it palliates present symptoms. Pain may 
disappear, but the patient is left in a worse condition, though unconscious of it at the time." 
Daniel. H. Kress, M.D.
"The necessity of teaching mankind not to take drugs and medicines is a duty incumbent upon 
all who know their uncertainty and injurious effects; and the time is not far distant when the 
drug system will be abandoned." Charles Armbruster, M. D.


Conclusion


So there you have it, why oils heal and drugs don't. Let's hope Dr. Armbruster is right, that 
"the time is not far distant when the drug system will be abandoned." Pharmaceutical 
companies and their physician drug dealers could market and sell natural products with 
genuine healing capabilities, but most won't. There isn't any money in it. 


In my opinion, changing the medical system toward more natural and spiritual forms of 
healing is impossible. The system can't change. It must be replaced. Those of you who have 
opted out of the system in favor of essential oils and their physical, mental, emotional and 
spiritual benefits are among the pioneers who are replacing the system. 


And for those of you who have taken prescriptions drugs over long periods of time, essential 
oils are your best friend because they can cleanse the residues of these drugs from your 
system once and for all and help restore your body back to its natural healthy state.

A testimony: What is in your house?

Sarah Bollinger attends our Friday night Furnace meetings and about 3 weeks ago, I imparted an anointing for making income because that has been something God has blessed me with--an ease to make income--typically through owning a business. I asked everyone, "What is in your hand or in your house?" like the widow was asked by the prophet. She had oil and that provided income for her and her family. Sarah took my encouragement to heart. And this is her story. It is not an endorsement of her investment. But it's an endorsement of what God did in her life.

Thieves Testimony

Essential Oil Thieves Testimony Just Received This Morning

I woke up in the middle of the night coughing and my throat was extremely sore...almost like strep symptoms.   I took 3 drops of Thieves in 2 T. of water;  woke up this morning--no symptoms! Whoopee!

Nancy Stovall

Faith vs Faithless

TYPES OF FAITH

·        Common faith. This faith is common to all men. Every human has faith for and in something. It might be faith in one’s abilities, achievements, money, etc. For example, we all have faith that the mail will run Monday through Saturday except on holidays. That is common faith. This faith might even believe that God exists but there is no personal relationship with Him. In fact, James tells us that even demons believe and tremble.

·        Saving faith. This is the faith that we must have in order to be saved or born again by grace NOT by observing laws. It is only by faith in Jesus Christ that we can be saved so this faith is required to be a citizen of His kingdom and adopted as His child (see Eph. 2:8; Rom. 4:16).

·        Sanctifying faith. This is the faith you use every day in your Christian walk. It is implanted within you when you are born again and must be cultivated and allowed to grow in strength (see 2 Cor. 10:15; Rom. 1:17). We are to put this faith on (see 1 Thess. 5:8). We are to have steadfast faith (see 1 Cor. 15:58). This faith is so powerful that faith the size of a mustard seed will move mountains (see Matt. 17:20).

·        Gift of faith. This is a unique form of faith that goes beyond typical experience. Where sanctifying faith must be cultivated, the gift of faith is a supernatural trust that abides in you, usually temporarily, and cannot be shaken no matter the circumstances surrounding you. In fact, when operating in this type of faith, you can’t even make yourself fear or lack faith. It’s impossible. It is an ABSOLUTE KNOWING of the outcome BEFORE you see it (see 1 Cor. 12:9).

·        Faith for ministry. This faith allows you to receive and exercise the gifts and ministry that God apportions to you (see Rom. 12:3; 6-8). The faith He gives you corresponds to the role He assigns you. This means that you need to know your primary gifts and your role in the body of Christ as well as believe that you have all the faith you need to complete your role. However, I believe this faith as well as your influence can be grown. The important thing is to start where God puts you and allow Him to promote.

·        Great faith. This is my favorite because it is so simple yet extraordinary. In Matthew 8:5-13, a Roman Centurion approached the Lord to heal his servant. The Lord got up to go to his house and the Centurion stopped Him explaining that he like the Lord was a man in authority. As such, he would tell someone to do this or that, and his wishes were carried out. He showed sensitivity to the Lord as a Jew going into a Gentile’s home by letting Him know he wasn’t worthy for Him to enter his home but knew that at His command his servant would be healed. The Lord was astonished at his “great faith” and exclaimed that He hadn’t seen such faith in all Israel. The key to this man’s great faith was his understanding of authority. In America, we are so independent that submission to authority is optional. I will do what they say only if I want to, and it doesn’t mess with my agenda. No one has a right to tell me what to do. Some even glory is doing the opposite. But understanding and submitting to authority is a key to great faith. Authority is “exousia” in the Greek and means the “power to rule.” It means that the one with the power must be submitted to by others and obeyed. He recognized that the Lord was far superior to Him.

Many times when the Lord healed someone, He would say, “According to your faith…” or “Your faith has healed you” or something similar. The phrase, “according to,” means “to the exact degree or in the same measure.” In other words, the Lord was saying that to the exact degree and in the same measure of your faith, let it be. Our level of faith is the high water mark of how much of God’s power we will see demonstrated in our lives. Your faith determines what God does. Actually, your faith determines the miracle you get. And remember that faith the size of a mustard seed moves mountains.

It is also important to understand that we must have PRESENT FAITH not future faith or I Hope So Faith. Future faith is revealed in the words, “I know one day I will be healed…” or “One day I hope I am healed…” That one day is today! Hope in the Bible is expectation in the Greek, which is not the same as our culture’s definition of hope as wishful thinking. PRESENT FAITH IS TO BELIEVE THAT YOU RECEIVE THE MOMENT YOU PRAY. It is impossible to not get what you pray for unless you are praying amiss. It’s simply a matter of time.

So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them (Mark 11:22-24).

In Daniel 10:12-13, the angel Gabriel explained to him that the second he prayed, God sent him to explain things to Daniel, but he was opposed by the ruler of Persia until Michael came and helped him. This reveals that there is demonic opposition to our miracle sometimes. It is crucial that you know God’s will in His written and spoken word to have PRESENT FAITH (see Rom. 12:1-2).

First John 5:4 states that our faith overcomes the world system. That shows how important our faith is. What is in the world system? Sickness. Violence. Unrest. Fear. Lack. Hatred. Demonic oppression. The list goes on and on. But our faith overcomes all that is in the evil world system, and it is illegal for anything in the fallen world system to be present in your life as a citizen.

DEGREES OF FAITHLESSNESS

There are three main degrees or levels of faithlessness.

1.      Little faith. Several times in the Bible, Jesus rebuked His disciples for little faith. One example is the story of the storm at sea. The disciples PRAYED to Jesus (who was asleep in the boat) to help them with the storm because they were perishing. The Lord ANSWERED their prayer by rebuking the storm. You could say they were successful for they received answer to their prayer. But then the Lord turned and rebuked them for their little faith. Why? Because He had already given them authority to do the same thing. Little faith is “oligopistos” in the Greek and is defined as “puny, somewhat brief, almost, few, little, short, a season, small, and a while.” A great definition is UNDERDEVELOPED FAITH. Tests and trials strengthen our faith if we allow them to do so. We don’t need to ask for more faith. It would be like going to the gym and asking for more muscles. They would think you’re crazy and tell you to hit the gym. Little faith is typically used to relate to a specific event not ongoing persistent failure to believe. In other words, you might have strong faith in some areas and little faith in others. It can also be the result of not knowing your value to God as well as not understanding your calling and who Jesus is (see Matt. 8:23-26; 6:30; 16:5-12). The revelation you have of Jesus determines how you relate to Him and the miracles you experience. Little faith can also mean faith of short duration, which is believing for a period of time then something causing you to quit believing (much like Peter walking on water). Hebrews 6:12 explains that we are not to be sluggish or lazy because faith AND patience inherits the promises. Spiritual laziness results in unused and puny faith.

2.      Doubt. In Matthew 14:22-31, we read of the storm on the sea and the Lord walking across the water. Peter asked to do the same thing, which he did. But then he saw the waves and the storm and began sinking. The Lord mentioned his little faith then asked why he doubted. Here we see that little faith leads to doubt if not strengthened. The Lord didn’t congratulate Peter for trying because He as a Man walked in the full strength of faith so He knew Peter, His disciples, and anyone who believed in Him could too. Doubt means “two ways or twice.” It also means “to waver, hesitate, be uncertain.” It describes a person standing on a road where two ways meet and not knowing which way to choose. It is the quivering motion of a balance when two weights on either side are approximately equal. It is to be of TWO MINDS. In James 1:6-8, he explained that a man of two minds or a man of doubt would not receive anything and is UNSTABLE IN ALL HIS WAYS. I like how Zodhiates describes it as “strife within oneself.” It is a drawing back that causes God displeasure (see Heb. 10:38).

3.      Unbelief. Unbelief is outright refusal to believe God. It is important to study Hebrews 3 and 4. You will see that UNBELIEF IS THE RESULT OF AN EVIL HEART THAT WAS DECEIVED BY SIN AND HAS DEPARTED FROM GOD. It is a hardening of the heart when He speaks. It is a choice. It is a sign of rebellion or lawlessness, which 1 John 3:4 states is sin. Someone can be very righteous and religious on the outside but be full of rebellion and unbelief on the inside. It is ironic that the Pharisees, students of the law, would not believe Christ and broke the very laws they studied to have Him arrested, tried, and crucified. Sin, lawlessness, disobedience are all related to unbelief in the original Greek. PERSISTENT DISOBEDIENCE CAUSES A DEEP ROOT OF UNBELIEF THAT RESULTS IN APOSTASY and keeps you from the promises of God. Unbelief can be a demonic influence as well. I have encountered this demon before and felt immediate hopelessness and that I had hit a brick wall. After I felt slimed. I will usually go against it and pray again letting the person know so they can repent. Sometimes it releases them and sometimes they refuse to let go. In Mark 16:14, the Lord rebuked His disciples for unbelief because they didn’t believe Him when He said He would rise from the dead. The reason they didn’t believe is because they had PRECONCEIVED IDEAS of the Messiah and what His coming would look like and death wasn’t part of it. That lets us know that we must be open minded and take things to the Scriptures to verify if true. In Jesus’ hometown, He couldn’t do many miracles because of unbelief. The reason they didn’t believe was they were FAMILIAR with Him. They saw Him grow up. They knew His parents. Unbelief must be repented of and if a demon is oppressing you, you need deliverance. Ask God to show you any areas where you are hard, deceived, rebelling, lack understanding, or have become “familiar” with God in an unholy manner.

But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23).

ACTIVATION EXERCISES

1. In the area you are focusing on in this school, mark which faith or faithlessness you are operating in.

ð Sanctifying faith                             ð Little faith

ð Gift of faith                                      ð Doubt

ð Great faith                                       ð Unbelief

2. If you are in faith, remember that your level of faith is the high water mark for your miracle. Where is your level? Circle which one?

Low

Mid

Deep

3. Have you ever operated in a gift of faith? If so, write down your testimony.
4. Has God told you to do something regarding your situation and you’ve persistently disobeyed? If so, what? Could be anything from forgiving someone, stop eating a certain food, give an offering, etc. 
5. Write down any preconceived ideas you might have regarding your situation such as how you will be healed, past experiences where you weren’t healed, etc. 
6. Are you so “familiar” with certain stories in the Bible or hearing certain things about God that you are in unbelief? What are these things? Take a moment to write down then repent and ask God to help you see things with fresh eyes of faith.