Hope, Healing & Freedom Podcast: Episode 214
TRANSCRIPT
If I could boil the Christian life down to one simple sentence, would you be interested? What if this sentence could help you deal with most, if not all, of life’s situations? I know I am trying to hook you into listening to this podcast, but what I am going to share today will without a doubt help you experience more from your relationship with God. Come along as we talk about going vertical first.
I’m Lee Whitman from Restoring the Foundations and I welcome you into this Hope Healing and Freedom Podcast. Today’s verse is Matthew 10:8, Freely you have received, freely give.” As you know, I love the ministry of Restoring the Foundations. One of the things I love most about RTF ministry is that all through the ministry process the ministry receiver is having an encounter with God. Let me explain.
From the moment someone goes to our website and clicks on the Get Ministry tab, they are encountering God. The first encounter is asking God which of the RTF Healing House Network ministers they should choose for their ministry. Then the next encounter with God happens as they fill out the My Story questionnaire. We have people tell us often that they began to see connections to their ancestors as they filled out the My Story. They are having an encounter with God by just filling out the My Story. Then once the ministry begins, they are going to have an opportunity to experience God in every session. The first session is the interview where the ministry team uses the information given to them on the My Story to probe a little deeper into a person’s life to try and discover the roots of the issues. That causes an encounter with God as the Holy Spirit brings up the information that He knows is important to the issues that are being ministered to. The next session in RTF ministry is applying the blood of Jesus to the generational sins and curses found in a person’s life. As part of that ministry session, the receiver is encouraged to ask the Holy Spirit for a blessing to replace the curses that are being broken off. At that moment, they are going vertical and having an encounter with God as they receive the blessing He wants to give them. We had one guy say that receiving the blessings was so powerful and beneficial that he asked, “do I need to come back tomorrow?” Then the next part of RTF ministry is to break Ungodly Beliefs and replace the lie with God’s truth. In the ministry process, they renounce and cancel their agreement with the kingdom of darkness and ask Father God what His truth is about them and this situation. It is amazing to watch as they have a personal encounter with God as they receive His truth for their life. Then the third part of the ministry is allowing Jesus to come and heal their broken heart. Jesus is so intimate and personal that He knows the exact wound that needs to be healed, and He knows this person so well that He knows exactly how to bring His healing to their broken heart. We are constantly amazed at how Jesus knows the exact words or actions that will bring healing to a person’s heart. He doesn’t use a method; He meets each person personally and intimately to bring His healing. No two heart healing sessions are quite the same. Then the last part of RTF ministry is to remove the demonic influence from a person’s life. In this ministry time, the person is taking the authority given to them by Father God and commanding the demonic to leave.
All the way through RTF ministry we are helping the ministry receiver go vertical first by facilitating an encounter with God. I think this picture of going vertical first is a wonderful picture of the Christian life. The Christian life was designed for us to go vertical before we go horizontal. Let me explain.
If we make it a habit to go vertical first and connect with Father God, we will find that life will go better for us. For example, when I have to have a difficult conversation with someone, and when I choose to go vertical first and ask Father God what I am supposed to say and how to say it, I find that the conversation goes much better. Think about it as a parent. When you have to talk with your child, whether it be a good topic or a negative topic, if you would go vertical and ask Father God how to speak to your child, I almost guarantee that things will go better than if you just jump into the conversation. When we go vertical before we go horizontal, we bring heaven into the situation. It says in Colossians 3:2, “Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth.”
This same process works in every situation. When dealing with a co-worker, take a moment to go vertical before going horizontal. Ask Father God how to approach the situation. I remember a time when I was working for my Dad in his auto dealership. I was working in the repair end of the business and people would come in pretty upset when their new car was not running right. So, one day this guy just unloaded on me about his new car, like I was the person who made his car or something. I took a moment and went vertical about this situation and then I went to talk with him, not about his car, but about his life. Come to find out he was having serious financial problems which were in turn affecting his marriage. And now the new car that he probably should not have purchased due to his financial problems was having mechanical problems. By going vertical first, I was able to approach this angry guy and bring the love of God into that repair shop. It is amazing how God can use a listening ear and a hot cup of coffee to minister to someone. But that only happened because of setting my mind on things above.
Think about the difference this could make in all aspects of your life. We often live reactive lives, in other words we react to situations that happen in our lives rather than responding. We are then led by our reactions, which often are filled with the emotion of the moment. By setting our minds on things above and going vertical first before reacting to a situation, we are then able to apply what Father God is telling us and we can respond instead of reacting.
I strongly believe that this is the process that God designed for us to use in our marriage. We often take our marriage and our spouse for granted. We can easily get lazy and treat them nice but not treat them as the special person that God gave you. God taught me a valuable lesson on how to treat my wife from our dog. Seriously Lee, from your dog? We got this dog from the pound, and it was supposed to be for our daughter. Well, the dog tolerated everyone in the family, but it celebrated my wife. When Cindi would walk into the room the dog would almost dance. That dog would celebrate Cindi. That dog taught me a valuable lesson. I also need to celebrate my wife, not by dancing when she came into the room, but by getting off my backside and going to her and letting her know that I was glad she was home. By going vertical first, God began giving me words and ways of showing Cindi how valuable she is to me. I want to encourage you to go vertical in your marriage and ask Father God how your spouse needs to be loved.
I want to approach a very sensitive subject, but one that needs to be talked about. I want to talk about your sexual relationship with your spouse. I believe the enemy has stolen good, God-anointed sex and made it into something that is used to get your selfish needs met. Sex has become about what you get out of the experience instead of what you give to your spouse. We even hear on TV or other places when people say, “Hey, did you get any?” What is that if it is not making sex all about what you get instead of what you give? I believe that God designed sex to be part of what we give to our spouse. And to quote Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will it be put into your bosom. For with the measure that you use, it will be measured back to you”.A key principle in the Kingdom of God is that you give in order to get in return. This verse is talking about financial giving, but the principle works for all areas in the Kingdom of God. You want to get love, then give love. You want to get respect, then give respect. You want to receive physical pleasure, then give away physical pleasure.
I think we have been wrongly taught that it is our spouses’ job to meet our needs in marriage. There are even books that say it is his job to fill her love tank, and it is her job to fill his love tank. I personally don’t think that’s right. I can’t fill my wife’s love tank. She can’t fill my love tank. The only one who can fill our love tank is God. According to Romans 5:5, “The love of God is poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” The love needs we have can only be met through Him. I believe the same is true of our sexual relationship. If I am looking for my wife to meet my sexual needs to make me feel ok, I am looking to the wrong source. This may sound weird, but the only one who can fully satisfy my sexual needs is God. He is the one who created sex, and He is the only one who can make me fully satisfied. So, when I go vertical and allow God to fully satisfy my needs, then and only then am I in a position that I can approach my wife with the right motives. If I approach her wanting my needs satisfied, then I am approaching her to get something. But when I allow God to fully satisfy my needs, then I can approach her with a desire to share my love with her and give her pleasure no matter what I get in return. As our verse for today says, “Freely you have received, freely give.” That is a kingdom mindset.
Going vertical first is the way Jesus lived His life here on earth. Remember that Jesus was fully human, so if He lived His life this way, then it is a pattern that is designed for us to follow as well. It says many places in the bible that Jesus only did what He saw His Father doing. He went vertical and found out what Father God wanted Him to do, and then He went and did that. He only said what He heard His Father in Heaven saying. Yet many of us believe that we can live life differently than Jesus did by living out of our intellect and ability.
Think about how much more effective you could be in ministry if you went vertical before you went horizontal and ministered to others. RTF gives a wonderful plan to follow, but even with a wonderful plan to follow, we need to go vertical before we do anything in ministry. Matthew 4:4 says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Going vertical before you go horizontal.
I want to close this podcast by inviting you to attend the RTF International Steadfast Conference on October 7-10 in Mt Juliet, Tennessee. Our special guest at this year’s conference is Rebecca Greenwood who will be teaching and ministering. You will also hear from our Founders Chester and Betsy Kylstra along with other wonderful RTF ministers. And you don’t want to miss the outstanding worship led by the amazing Ryan Hall. It will be great so go to the RTF website and register today.
