Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 87
TRANSCRIPT
What does it mean to be filled to all the fullness of God? In today’s podcast we are going to look again at the passage of scripture found in Ephesians 3:14-19 that we started on in last weeks podcast. Filled to all the fullness of God? Come along with us, I can’t wait to dive into these verses.
I’m Lee Whitman with Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. The scripture for today is found in Ephesians 3:14-19. I am going to quote this passage from The Passion Translation, “So I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on earth. And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. Then by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences – the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate and far-reaching is His love. How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding- this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!” I am going to admit up front that as I read these words from the heart of God, I am so struck at a very deep level by the incredible love that Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit have for each one of us. And I am overwhelmed with the passion I feel to help you experience this love for yourself.
In last week’s podcast we saw that this scripture starts and has its foundation on the glory of Father God. The glory of God is everything that He is, all of His attributes, His nature, His character. He is the perfect father of every father and child in heaven and on earth as the passion translation says.
That is where I want to pick up in this week’s podcast. Buckle your seat belts, this roller coaster is about to take off. It says, “I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power.” Can you imagine that. Your Father God wants to show through you His glory and favor so that His supernatural strength floods your inner most being with His divine might and explosive power. Have you ever had that happen to you? I can only say that I have experienced this kind of holy spirit explosive power on a few occasions. Yet it says it is available to us on a regular basis.
Cindi and I attended the Open Heavens conference at Bethel Church in Redding California in 2011. The speakers were John and Carol Arnot. On the last night of the conference, they had all the attendees line up for a reverse fire tunnel. A Normal fire tunnel is when the speakers and church leaders line up in parallel lines and the congregation walks between the lines and are touched by the fire of God. On this occasion the congregation lined up in parallel lines and John and Carol walked down the line and laid their hands on people. John went one direction and Carol came down the line I was in. I had never done anything like this before, so I was standing there in faith, not sure what was going to happen but desperately wanting to experience God. As Carol got closer, I prepared myself to receive whatever God had for me through Carol. When she got in front of me, she grabbed my outstretched hand and said something and then began to move on to the next person in line. In my mind I was disappointed because I wondered is that all there is. Then all of a sudden, she stopped and turned around and came back to me and put her finger in my chest and said in a loud voice, “FIRE”! It was as if something hit me in the chest. I flew back four feet and landed on the floor. Here I am a 250-pound guy and Carol is all of 100 pounds. There is no way she could have pushed me hard enough to make me fly back like that. The power of God hit me like a bolt of lightning and literally knocked me to the ground. It was unlike anything I have felt before or since. I experienced this verse when it says the explosive power of God was release on me.
Why had I never experienced anything like that before? Most likely because I was not open to allowing God to demonstrate His power in that unusual physical form. I was raised that God didn’t do things like that. Cindi and I had just completed our five-month training at Restoring the Foundations, and we had received much wonderful ministry to free us from the bondages of our past. So, I was at a new place with God where I wanted whatever He wanted to give me, and I didn’t care if it fit into my theological box or not. And being knocked to the floor by the power of God did not fit in one of my boxes. But I don’t think I have ever been the same since that experience. I began experiencing today’s verses in a very real sense. It says, “Then you will be empowered to discover … the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions.”
RTF is a powerful ministry tool to help remove the things that might be blocking us from experiencing the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ. The clearing process must start by removing the generational iniquity that we have inherited from our ancestors. We can easily inherit the generational curse of religious bondage that will make it difficult to let God out of our box. We can also inherit unbelief or deception that blocks us from receiving God’s truth. There are many other things that come down on you through your bloodline that can literally hold you captive from experiencing what Father God is offering. And because this iniquity has been a part of your life since conception you might not be aware of the hold it has on you because it is normal for you.
The next part of RTF ministry is to remove the lies we might be believing that create an anchor holding these hinderances in place. It is not enough to just remove the generational iniquity from our life. Every struggle we have in life is held in place or anchored in place by lies we are believing. One of the lies that I believed was that God only operated in orderly and sophisticated ways. Wow. Getting knocked to the ground by the power of God was neither orderly nor sophisticated yet it radically changed my life. The best way to discover the lies you are believing is simply to ask Father God to reveal them to you. Be ready, because He will answer that prayer. He longs to set you free from anything that is holding you back.
Then the next step in your journey to freedom is to ask God to reveal any wounded places in your life that are distorting your view of Him. It is very easy to get wounded by something we thought God should have done or by something we thought God shouldn’t have allowed to happen. David talks a lot about having a broken heart in the Psalms. God knows that in this life we are going to get hurt. Part of the mission of sending Jesus to earth was to heal our broken hearts. Psalms 86:11 says, “Unite my heart to fear Your Name.” God is saying in this verse first of all you will have your hearts broken in this life. Second, He says in order to fear God’s name you must have your broken heart healed. What if your broken heart is what is keeping you from experiencing “the endless love (of Christ) beyond measure that transcends our understanding”. That is the kind of love that is being offered in this passage. If you are not experiencing that kind of love, then something is getting in the way. I believe that RTF ministry will clear away whatever is blocking you from experiencing that love.
This passage of scripture goes on to say, “this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God.” What does it mean for us to be filled to overflowing with the fullness of God? My favorite pastor Don Finto says that we are like a tea pot with an opening at the top for water to be poured in and a spout so that water can be poured out. He said that you can’t pour more water into a full tea pot. You must pour some of the tea out of the tea pot in order for it to be refilled. He would often use that illustration to make the point that we must continually pour out in order to be refilled with fresh water.
I have started a Publix Grocery Store ministry. I do the shopping for the Whitman household and when I go into my Publix grocery story, I make it part of my goal for being in that store for some of what is in me to be poured out. Some days it is just by walking down the aisles and praying in the spirit. I love to take authority over the evil spirits at work in that grocery store and command them to be bound and gagged. I don’t necessarily see the results of my prayers, but I know that I am shifting the atmosphere in Publix. Other days I talk to the other shoppers or the people who work there. I am pouring out what God has put in me. My wife knows that I can hardly go anywhere without talking to someone.
To be filled to overflowing with the fullness of God requires us to empty out anything that does not look like Him. I heard a story of a Native American Indian who carves beautiful totem poles. When asked how he was able to create such beautiful and intricate totem poles, he said he sees the picture that he wants on the pole in his mind and then he carves away anything that does not look like the picture. That is what God is doing in each of our lives. He sees a picture of who He designed each of us to be in Christ and He is using everything available to Him in order to remove anything that does not look like the image of Christ.
I want to end this podcast by rereading today’s scripture over you as a blessing.
“So, I kneel humbly in awe before the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect Father of every father and child in heaven and on earth. And I pray that He would unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favor until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. Then by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life. Then you will be empowered to discover what every holy one experiences – the great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. How deeply intimate are far-reaching is His love. How enduring and inclusive it is! Endless love beyond measurement that transcends our understanding- this extravagant love pours into you until you are filled to overflowing with the fullness of God!”
Prayer
God You are an amazing Father. Thank you for giving us the ability to know You and to experience the amazing love of Christ. Help each one of us to not settle for accepting less than what You and Jesus came to give us. Reveal to us anything that is keeping us from experiencing the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions. May you be filled to overflowing with the fullness of God.
Thank you for joining us for this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. If these podcasts are a blessing to you and you would like to support the ministry of RTF financially, go to our website www.restoringthefoundations.org and click on the Donate tab at the top of the page. We look forward to being with you again next Tuesday.
