“Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” John 8:12

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.” Matthew 5:14

It was not the Walmart coat she wore that made people turn their heads when she walked by. Nor was it the way she had fixed her hair that frosty morning. It wasn’t even the sky blue scarf she wore around her neck. Still, everyone saw it, everyone wanted it, yet no knew what they saw. Fran had something far more than human capabilities can produce. Fran had a brightness, a freshness, a certain magnetism, and people were drawn to it. Her face radiates an invisible light that eyes do not see. Moreover, those who think they know what it is that attracts them to her,  are not aware that they could see this particular light even with their eyes closed. Perhaps even more surprising is that Fran doesn’t see it either, but she is cloaked in Light.

VISIBLE - TANGIBLE LIGHT

Perhaps more important is that the light indwelling Fran is not only visible, it is tangible - you can feel it, it has density, mass, volume, and it is alive. It is living light. Over the millennia many have wanted this “living light.” They have tried to buy it, they have tried to manufacture it, they have tried to imitate it, and when they found they could accomplish any of that - they tried to kill it. Little did they know that this tangible, eternal light is free, yet it is more costly than diamonds, more precious than gold, and incomprehensible in its nature.

So is it with you. As you stand here, you are being filled, indwelt, and cloaked with this very unusual light. In a very strange and wonderful manner, you have returned to the source of Light you were intended to have from the beginning. The full absorption does not happen instantly, but as you stand in this final Room of Mystery, Eternal Light and temporal man join and become one again. Timelessness and time somehow mingle together and you become an everlasting life.

THE HEAVEN AND EARTH CONNECTION

Somehow, you remember, you have no shoes on your feet and you can feel the dust of the Earth between your toes and even sense it falling softly around each foot. It is as if God has called the Earth to bare witness to this moment, this is why your feet are bare; Heaven and Earth touch through you. You are a connector between Heaven and Earth. Therefore, when you feel God, the Earth feels Him through you. This is what both of you were created for. Earth to help man, man to steward Earth; both revealing the Glory of God. This is, in essence, why Matters of the Earth are important to man.

You are beginning to understand so much more, being a light of the world is far more real and weightier than you previously thought. You are not yet “one” with the light and so it is still uncomfortable for you to look very long at the Light from the Mercy Seat. A far deeper realization permeates every cell in your body that it is by Grace you are here and through Mercy that you are still alive.

SUBCELLULAR UNDERSTANDING

As the Light enters you, you are aware of strange things happening in your body. It is as if you are coming apart at a cellular level. But, how do you know that? You discover that your awareness has infinitely increased. There is no feeling of pain, only total awareness of how you were created, awareness of every cell in your body, even awareness of sub-cellular and sub-atomic particles that Science hasn’t discovered yet. This Light is far more than Light, it is the Substance of Creation and in its entrance into you it is regenerating you. You are reconceived! You understand how you were created, but that memory will eclipse your understanding once you return to a more Earthly environment. That memory is for another time yet ahead - it will return then.

DISORIENTATION FROM HEAVENLY EVENTS

In your reconstitution, things seem a little dizzy now. The Cherubim woven in the covering thirty feet above you seem alive. Have they changed? Are they really there? This Final Room of Mystery is so different! The covering seems so high, far higher than it did in the First Room of Mystery. Perhaps it is only the smallness of the room that makes it seem so high. It is still twenty cubits high (or thirty feet)? None-the-less, that still makes it twice as tall as it is wide. As you continue to look around in AWE, you notice that the amber colored vapor of smoke is even more brilliant in color. And it is so thick in this room, it swirls as if wings of angels were fanning it. You also notice that the vapor of smoke seems just as thick at the top of the room as it is at the bottom. You cannot help but think, “Truly this is an unearthly environment,” and you so are thankful you have your feet on the ground.

When the Light of the Creator has completed It’s current task within you, you will radiate light at levels you have never imagined. You will need to know the truth and reality of that at a spiritual level once you leave this Light and go back into the darkness that fills the earth and the gross darkness that fills the people. It is there you will find the “Dark Night of the Spirit.”

We have more to cover before we fully address that topic.

Blessings,

John Paul

“Bless the LORD, O my soul!

O LORD my God, You are very great:

You are clothed with honor and majesty,

Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment,

Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain.”

Psalms 104:1-2

Perhaps it is the light, perhaps it is the vapor of smoke around you, perhaps it is simply pure adrenalin, or perhaps it is entirely something else you have yet to discover, but you now notice that you feel full of vibrant health here. There are no migraines, there is no cancer, not even the smallest defect in your skin can be seen here. All your cells are functioning at full, created capacity. It is as if the Kingdom of Heaven has come to Earth, and in one great sense it has. In this mysterious Holy of Holies none of the elements of the Fall of Man exist. There is no sin to contaminate your DNA let alone the room. The anti-creation effect of darkness cannot exist in the presence of the Holy Creator.

BEFORE THE FALL

The purpose of this room is not only to reveal the Glory of God to mankind, but also to reveal to mankind what it was like before the Fall. Humans were clothed in light back then. It was not uncomfortable for man to walk with God, God’s light was not blinding. Why? Man, made in the image of God was also cloaked in light. However man, after the Fall, wrote that God dwells in “unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16). Darkness finds it difficult to be in the presence of Light. That is one reason why the demons shrieked at the presence of Jesus.  It is painful for darkness to approach pure light. However, man before the Fall, made in the image and likeness of God, was covered with light and as such could walk with God without feeling out of place. Light walked with man who was clothed with light.

CLOTHED IN LIGHT

When sin, disobedience to God’s ways and word, entered Adam and Eve - the light left. Even today, light cannot dwell with darkness and darkness cannot dwell with light. When the covering of light lifted from Adam and Eve, they both saw each other’s outward, physical appearance for the first time and they “knew they were naked.” Their clothing of light was gone. Without the distinctive atmosphere of God’s presence, Adam and Eve were left cold, naked, and afraid. The protective covering of God’s glory was no longer there. Vulnerability to to a power which sought to over throw God confronted them. But, in this Holy Room, God is seeking to restore the presence of His light to you, to make you a light of the world.

LIGHT IS EVERYWHERE

The thickness of the air in this Final Room of Mystery seems to press against your face, it is as if the Light, the air, and the vapor of smoke all carried a weightiness. Strangely, it seems so light, and effortless as it enters your lungs. In the previous room, the Holy Place, light reflected from the two side walls, but in this room the light reflects from three golden walls, the two side walls and the wall directly in front of you. Light is everywhere. You now understand at a far deeper level why it is said that the Holy of Holies is the one place where the presence of God rested. Even if it was only His “footstool” this presence is life altering.

THE SMALLER ROOM

As your eyes are adjusting to the light, you can see the room is so much smaller than any room you have been in so far. It is exactly half the size of the room you just came from (ten cubits by ten cubits or about fifteen feet by fifteen feet). In the middle of the room stands what seems to be the only piece of furniture in here, but it is actually two pieces - the Ark of the Covenant or Testimony and the Mercy Seat. Everything in this room is covered with gold and the Ark of the Covenant and the Mercy seat are no exception. The Brass of the Outercourt will not work in here.

HISTORY

This is the Room where God talked with Moses and gave Him divine instructions for the Hebrew Children. Only the Priest could enter here and that was just once a year - but here you are and you are alive, all because of the blood of the lamb covers you. Therefore, you as priest, as well as a prophet, and a King, can enter here. He has opened the Veil for you. He longs to commune with you. He wants to give you divine instructions to pray and communicate to His people.

RECOVERING THE LIGHT OF HIS PRESENCE

Jeremiah predicted that the Children of Israel would lose the Ark and no one would care. God is looking for a people to care again - not for the Ark as a piece of furniture, but for the Light of His presence. In that presence is the fullness of life as it was originally meant to be. The fullness of life that you were created to have.

Blessings,

John Paul

“In Your light we see light.” Psalms 36:9

“This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” 1 John 1:5

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.” James 1:17

Light is strange, you can feel its presence, but you cannot grasp it. You can see it, but most of it is invisible to the naked eye. Some light you can turn off and on, but the light you released is 186,000 miles away before you can even start the process of turning it off - thus light is impossible to retrieve.

To complicate matters even more, the light that you are now walking into is a different type of light than you have ever seen, felt, experienced, or walked in before. This light preceded Creation. Under this light plants grew before there was even a sun, moon, or stars. What? Yes, plants were created on day three, the Sun was not created until day four. As such it is the substance from which all matter, visible and invisible was made.

PARTICLES OF GOD

The substance of this light comes from the very particles of God - who is light. As you breathe it in and absorb it you are literally experiencing light at a creative level and becoming one with that light through God’s Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). It is God revealing the fabric of Himself to you in a way you have never felt, known, or experienced before. This light is God’s Glory and from this light all His Glory exists. This light is the Creator of all things and here in this small room - right now - He is regenerating, recreating you.

ABSORBING AND RADIANCE

As you take the next few steps, before you can straighten up, you are being regenerated; life is flowing into you at unprecedented levels. When you leave this room you will radiate the light of God. To the measure you absorbed the light you will radiate the light. Those who hunger and thirst for Him will radiate the greatest amount of light. Hunger and thirst are two of the greatest light attractors. Those who are obedient and submissive will find they keep the light longer than others. To the degree you lose any of the afore mentioned, the light will dim. There are many dim lights in the world today; as a result one does not have to be a very bright light to be thought to be spiritually brilliant. Those whose light is dim are seen to have “darkened perceptions.”

THREE GOLD WALLS

You are now a few feet into the Holy Of Holies and you are still afraid to look up to the Mercy Seat where the Light radiates from. So you seize the moment to quickly glance around. The three walls before you are gold, only the Veil behind you is not. In the previous Room of Mystery, the Holy Place, only the two sidewalls were golden. Even with two walls of Gold, the Light was reflecting to the point of making your eyes uncomfortable, but here the Amberesque Light is blinding; at least it would be if it weren’t so healing. The Holiness of the light, and the pure gold all around you are overpowering. Golden, amberesque light is everywhere. There are no shadows in here - yes, it is the Holy of Holies. In His presence, all things are held together.

THE SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS

This living light has substance, it is life giving, and all problems melt away in His presence. There are no family problems, no financial problems, no health problems, in fact there are no problems - why? Because you have come face to face with the One who has all solutions, to every problem. God is not wondering what you should do next. He is never questioning why you did what you did - He is fully aware of why you did it. God is simply expressing to you that He knows what you need to do and anything you cannot do He is more than capable of doing. Every cell of your body feels His love. He is returning hope to you, soon that hope will turn into faith.

In the light of His love, you almost have enough courage to look toward the Ark of the Covenant. It too is covered with Gold.

Blessings,

John Paul

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4

“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.” Revelation 21:23

Just as the sages have written, the Veil does not fully open. So you have decided to take the step past the Veil that has stopped just over half way up your body, far from the top of the Four Golden Posts. Yet, your hunger for more of God’s presence, in spite of the major case of nerves you are experiencing, nudges you forward.

Still bowing, your face toward the ground, the light that once seemed to seep from under the Veil, has become blinding and you have yet to look up to see any form there may be of the presence of God. There is an unearthly nature concerning the radiance of this light. It is so different than the light of the Lampstand and the Sunlight you felt in the Outercourt. The light seems to radiate from every direction, and that light encompasses everything. You now understand why there is no need for the Sun in Heaven.

SOOTHING LIGHT

Slowly taking the second and third steps your face is still toward the ground. You are deathly afraid to look up. But, there is something about the light that strengthens you. You actually feel it’s soothing presence on your skin, and it far surpasses the peaceful warmth you remember of the sun touching your skin on a cold, early spring day. This light is giving you life, and your entire body deeply feels it.

SOOTHING LIGHT

Divine elements are happening with lightening speed. Within moments you feel more than the light touching your skin, you feel it entering your body. Its very presence enters you with each breath. You can feel it flowing through you - it is so different than the air you breathe outside this room. This light is alive, it is actually living, and as it enters you and courses through you, you are being regenerated at a cellular level. You now know, at a profoundly different level, the reality that His light is the Life of the world.

DIVINE AWARENESS

You are becoming aware of your created composition at a sub-cellular level and you are having Divine understanding enter your thought processes. You understand without knowing how you understand. The Creator, your Creator, is letting you know how completely He knows you. He is allowing you to track your creation, and in so doing God is allowing to you to have simultaneous awareness or a sliver of His Omniscience. You are learning how He totally and completely keeps track of all created matter, visible and invisible, above the Earth, on the earth, and beneath the Earth - there is nothing He is not aware of. He is never caught by surprise.

It is so easy for you to know all that is going on inside of you. You have perfect awareness of every cell that is dividing, each sub cellular particle that moves, and every disease, or malady is instantly known. Anything that is not functioning according to His Laws of Creation stands out like florescent orange on a hunter’s hat. You sense the Divine synchronization inherent in God’s Creation.

SPEECHLESS

You are in Awe and that word is trite compared to all you are living through right now. You begin to comprehend that the High Priest entered here to present himself and the people to God and the trade would be that He saw the presence of God. But, this was far from an even trade. What one experiences and comes away with from this experience changes every perception, every fragment of spiritual understanding; it changes everything - literally everything. You are cognoscente of the Divine order, the Divine Nature of all that comes from Him, and all that exists comes from and through Him.

Yes, life on the other side, outside this Room of Mystery, will never be the same. You can’t help but think; “I thought this journey was about preparing me to stand before God, when it was actually preparing me to be a witness of His existence and the reality of His intricate, interactive, moment by moment, involvement in my life and the lives of all who will follow Him.”

You still have not been able to look up, but you are becoming stronger, as His presence, life, and light infuse you. You hear strange noises and you are compelled to look to see what is making all this sound. As you slowly stand upright, you are struck with an even deeper sense of majesty and Awe, it is ………… .

Blessings,

John Paul

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Philippians 2:5-8

The Veil is lifting and you are in ‘transition’ and that transition is to result in you being ‘transformed’ in your body, soul and spirit. Transition by definition is a process, and processes are often slow, very slow. Transition is also littered with seeming gaps in our understanding as to why God does what He does as well as why He does it the way He does it.

TINY ROOMS

Your Journey through the spacious Outer court was arduous, but it resulted in the transformation of your flesh. The steps you have taken in the much smaller Holy Place has been more intense and mysterious, resulting in the transformation of your soul. The room you are entering, the second Room of Mystery is even smaller. At ten cubits by ten cubits (15′ X 15″) it is one half the size of the Holy Place. It is the most  mysterious room in the Tabernacle. Here your spirit will be revived and become ‘one’ with God as His Spirit begins to take every space that you will allow Him to have.

SPIRIT RULE

It is here that your spirit begins to rule your soul and your body. As the Veil in front of you lifts the Light of the Glory of God radiates from the Holy of Holies into the room in which you currently stand. You will discover that the importance of the ‘Torn’ Veil is enormous. However, until you understand the fullness of the ‘untorn Veil’ you cannot appreciate God tearing the Veil. I will write more on this ‘tearing’ later.

LEADING, FOLLOWING, AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

You have heard it said that, “The greatest leaders are the greatest followers.” Here, in the Holy of Holies, you will learn the deeper meaning of this saying. You are entering into the most intense training period of your life, the “Dark Night of the Spirit.” You will learn how your spirit is to rule your soul and your body, by learning to follow the Spirit of God. You cannot become ‘one’ with the Spirit of God with out following where He goes and what He does. God’s Spirit will not follow you nor your agenda, so if you if you insist on going your own way, you will do so alone.

THE DARKNESS OF YOUR OWN AGENDAS

God’s Spirit is His Light, so wherever and whenever you go on your own, you will go in darkness. In that darkness are all manner of dark beings that use the darkness as a cloak. They are there to stop you from achieving God’s purpose in creating you. Here, in this tiny room, your purpose will begin to unfold.

Dark spiritual beings thrive on the pride found in your agenda. Here, in this Light is where Pride is the most lethal. After all it was in this very proximity to God’s Light that Satan allowed Pride to enter His heart. Pride can enter through the cracks in your life. Your journey thus far has been designed to get all but the smallest of cracks out of your life. It is in this room that the rest of the cracks will be addressed.

PROXMITY AND PRIDE

Proximity to God is no guard against pride, if it was Satan would not have fallen.

This is why it is imperative that you go into the last Room of Mystery when God’s presence is there. It is very good to see Light coming from under the Veil as it lifts - by it you know God’s presence is there and since there is “no darkness in Him,” nothing in there can hide from His light. In Him you will see and know at levels previously hidden from you. This too can cause Pride.

Perhaps the greatest issues the Priest had to face was not found on the outside of the Veil, but found once he entered this room. Would what he was to experience here cause pride to fill his heart? Perhaps the greater question is not was the High Priest clean before he went into the Holy of Holies, but how did he live his life once he came out?

“HE MADE HIMSELF OF NO REPUTATION”

Perhaps the gaps you face in waiting for God to invite you into this small chamber is more about your life on the other side of this experience than your life on this side of it.

SELAH

Blessings,

John Paul

“Giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Col. 1:12-14

BLOOD ATONEMENT

There is one more item that the High Priest would carry with him into the Holy of Holies, a container of blood which he would sprinkle on the Mercy Seat as he approached it. The blood acknowledged five things, first, that the shedding of blood before God was the focal point of atonement for sins. Second, it was an admission that someone else had to shed the blood for them and in so acknowledging the people understood they could not atone for their own sins. Third, the blood that was sprinkled made it possible for justice to be administered and judgment to be withheld. Fourth, it made it possible for unholy people to become intimate and commune with the Holy God. Finally, the sacrificial blood prophesied the coming of the Messiah who once and for all would make an everlasting atonement for all sin.

You do not have to sprinkle the blood, but you do have to appropriate the blood of Jesus to your life - which you have been doing at each piece of furniture - which was already sprinkled with that blood.

JESUS THE GOLDEN CENSOR OF INTERCESSION

The Golden Censor you now have in your hands will carry the Prayers you have prayed into the next room. In fact, that smoke has already preceded you. It penetrates the very fiber of the thickest of fabrics, even the Veil that is before you. The Hebrew Historian, Josephus, wrote that the Veil of the Tabernacle of Moses was the equivalent of being four inches thick and that a team of horses could not pull the Veil apart.

PRAYER FOR YOU, PRECEDES YOU

As a reminder, the fact that prayer preceded you into the Holy of Holies is metaphoric of Jesus preceding you into Heaven and continually interceding there for you. Thus, prayer , for you in the Holy of Holies, is already present before you bring your prayers for others there. In fact, it is Jesus who is about to open the Veil for you, just as in the giving of His life, the Father tore the Veil in the Temple from the top to the bottom.

GOD’S SPECIAL PRESENCE

With the coming of the Tabernacle of Moses, God’s special presence was no longer in the Garden of Eden, it was in the Tabernacle itself. God’s presence in the next Room of Mystery returns to mankind all that Humans had before sin entered the world through them. In this room, the Holy of Holies, the presence of God is thick again, just as it was intended to be in the beginning - only then, before sin, there was no worry about the consequences of sin in a persons life.

The Veil was one piece of Fabric, and the Cherubim woven into the Veil more than likely match the Cherubim woven into the fabric above you and reaching out beyond the Golden walls on either side of you.

The Cloud of smoke in which you are standing and breathing represents both the Glory of God’s presence and acts as a protecting covering around you. Finally, it represent the Holy Spirit of the living God and as you breath it in, it begins the process of preparing you for what you are about to encounter. Now you are ready …

LIVING LIGHT

Suddenly, there is light, not just any light, but brilliant, thick, light oozing out from under the Veil in front of you. The light seems to be alive, as if it were living and wanting to touch you. Looking down at your feet, the encroaching Light mingles with the swirl of the smoke and your feet seem to be immersed in the clouds of Heaven. Your feet tingle a bit as the living Light moves around your ankles and passes over the arches of your barren feet. Even now, time seems to be fading, and you have begun to hear a sound coming from beyond the Veil as if a fire was raging just feet away from you and you wonder why there is no heat.

With this Light, the “Dark Night of the Soul” has come to an end, and you will discover eternity in ways that at this moment is unfathomable. Your agendas have dissolved and fallen away - the only thought you now have is to do the will of the Father, the agenda of God.

The Veil begins to slowly lift, and your heart is pounding so hard that your chest hurts - yet you are grateful, because in this “other worldly” environment, it is the one thing that lets you know you are still alive. The sound is becoming deafening, the living Light is already so bright your eyes find it difficult to look at it, and you can hardly breathe …. .

Blessings,

John Paul

I have seen the God-given task with which the sons of men are to be occupied. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.  Eccl. 3:10-11

You now face the one thing that separates you from the Holy of Holies, which is the second Room of Mystery. You are more than likely ready to enter the next room by reaching down and picking up the hem of the bottom of the Veil, just as you lifted the curtain when you entered the Tabernacle and the screen as you entered the Sanctuary. Up to this point, you entered through each partition by your decision and your action. In other words, at each separating partition by an act of your will you chose to lift the curtain and walk through the opening before you. But, not this time, everything changes here.

THE ROOM

You might remember from previous posts that it was God who spoke the fire on the Altar of Incense into existence. This is the fire the priests were to never allow to go out.  It was from this fire that the Lampstand and the Bowl of incense on the Table of Showbread was lit. Both in creation and in the Holy Place of the Sanctuary God spoke light into existence.

In the same manner, God is about to do something else- He is about to lift the Veil,you are not to lift it. You do not come into the next room but by invitation. At this point, you cannot just lift the Veil and expect God to be there. We see and example of the same event take place with the Apostle John in Revelation chapter four; God opened a door (Veil) and invited John to come in/up.

ESSENTIAL WONDER

It is important to understand this in order to comprehend the fullness of why it is an “essential wonder” that it was God who tore the Veil in the Temple at the death of Jesus on the Cross. I’ll write more on that in another post, but just as it was with the Temple Veil, and with John on the Isle of Patmos, it is with you here. Entrance to the next room is by invitation only. Again I will deal with the tearing of the Veil later. However, if you do not grasp the un-torn Veil the deeper meaning of the torn Veil will escape you.

I hinted at God’s part in lifting the Veil in my last posting when I wrote, “Oh my! Something is happening to the Veil. I’d better go.” When the Veil is troubled or the littlest movement begins to take place, you do not want to be looking another direction. As the prophets wrote, I set my face like flint toward you and I shall not be moved.

REFLECTION

While you wait it would be good to take another look at your surroundings. Close your eyes and take a moment to remember. You are in a small room that is about fifteen feet wide and thirty feet deep. The cloth with Cherubim woven into it is thirty feet above you. Gold walls are to your right and left. The Table of Showbread is to your right (or North) and slightly behind you. The Lampstand is to your left (or South) and slightly behind you. The beautiful four colored Screened entrance to the Sanctuary is directly behind you.

The room has an Amber-esc color caused by the light of the Lampstand reflecting off the golden walls and refracting off the smoke in the air. This is truly a Room of Divinum Mysterium. The Next Room is very, very different and even more mysterious.

PREPARING FOR TRANSITION

When this Veil lifts and you step forward, you are leaving the second phase of Transition in the Three Dark Nights - you are leaving The Dark Night of the Soul. You now enter into a much more formidable time - of deep Spiritual learning. In this next Room of Mystery you will learn and witness that God, who is Spirit, rules over all things. Likewise, you will learn that your spirit, under God’s Spirit, rules over you and all you are.

GOD’S CREATION

You will begin to absorb that it is from here that God directs all of Creation, God’s Spirit in you now directs all of you. You are becoming one with Him. Thus, “Your Kingdom Come, Your will be done on Earth (Me) as it is in Heaven is not just a trite statement designed to take up space in your Bible. It is Transformation at the highest level possible on this side of Eternity. This is what Paul wrote about in First Corinthians II - deep spirituality is only accomplished through spirit to spirit communication. In this room you will become one with God’s Spirit of Understanding, Knowledge, and Wisdom.

Blessings,

John Paul

“For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.” 2Cor. 13:4

Standing here, trying to understand the last Golden Pillar that triumphantly stands before you is a little like trying to tell your child to be quiet when he/she is about to meet the President of the United States for the first time. Your child is excited, but does not understand the implications of the event and in the anxiety of the moment the child squirms, fidgets, and talks and loudly. Perhaps that is what you are feeling right now. I can almost hear you saying, “Come on, let’s get on with it!” I remind you that patience is a virtue of God and you might want to try emulating it.   Smile

THE FOURTH PILLAR

You have one final Golden Pillar of Deity to understand, one final concept between you and the Divine, one final basis from which to gain the faith that God’s Kingdom is eternal in every way and it is worth praying for. The last Golden Pillar upon which Deity is based is the Pillar of Omnipotence.

THE POWER OF CREATING

Omnipotence is more than power, more than authority, and certainly more than preexistence. It is the ability to create that which has never existed in any form. To make something from nothing - literally from nothing.  I am not talking about inventing something, or changing the molecular structure, both of which started with something. I am talking about creating that, which is visible, and invisible; to create that which has free will and as such has a choice whether to love, serve, and obey that which created it. That is true Omnipotence.

RESTRAINT

Perhaps true Omnipotence could be taken one step further, and that might just be that the purest test of Omnipotence is to have the ability to limit your Omnipotence. What is meant by that? Think about this - Jesus - Jesus is the only reason you are not already dead and if not by now, you certainly would be in the Holy of Holies - the next Room of Mystery. God restrained Himself from following His plan of destroying all of those who sin by offering Himself fully as man to cover and forgive your sin. You might remember the very first piece of Tabernacle furniture you encountered on this Journey of Transition through the Three Dark Nights was the Brazen Altar - where sins are forgiven.

Restraint is an attribute of God that few consider. When God, as the Creator of all things you could wipe out all He hates, and make no mistake about it, God hates sin, it takes true power to restrain oneself.

THE CREATOR’S POWER OVER THAT WHICH HE CREATED

Yes, Omnipotence is not just about power to restrain oneself. Right on the tail of restraint is another aspect of Omnipotence that we seldom think about. You see, as the only creator, God knows the infinitesimally smallest thing about you - after all He made it. Inherent in that knowledge is how to take you apart and/or overpower you and He would not have to lift a finger to do it - He would simply think it and it would happen.

SUBTLE POWER

Another aspect of Omnipotence is that of subtle power. As mentioned above, subtle power is the ability to not even move a finger to cause anything to happen - just think it and at the speed of thought it is done. It makes one hope He does not think the wrong thought - and of course He won’t.

RAW POWER

Yet in consideration of the entirety of the above, there is still the aspect of Omnipotence that is spectacular and full of grandeur. That aspect is the expression of His power. Oh how we humans love that panoramic display of raw power. It is what you long to have. It draws the lost to Him, it overcomes the most hostile of spirits, it demolishes that which stands in His way. It is what heals the sick, raises the dead, cleanses the leper, and casts out every demon.

Raw power, it made Kings tremble when God’s people marched into their land. It would do so today - if only … . Well, that is why I write what I write. We have been so culturally anesthetized that we think the life we live is worthy of such endowment. Sadly, if God gave us that level of power today He would end up judging us tomorrow for the pride and arrogance we carried from the adulation of the people who so admire us they would do anything we asked just to be near us. It seems that long gone are the days when men of God tore their garments when the people thought too highly of them. But, that is another topic.

THE BREADTH OF OMNIPOTENCE

Like it or not, at the early and immature stages of our walk with God, it is the raw power of God that creates faith in our heart. Faith that we win, faith that the evil one will not overwhelm us, faith that in His power, God has created another home for us to forever reside in. As we mature, we do not lose that faith in His raw power, but our faith broadens to become more, far more than that. And when it does, we will truly become Romans eight - children of God - not just theoretical children of God. I fear that today we treat God’s power as theory or some level just shy of fact. That too is another topic - but it drives me to keep writing these posts. Some day, one day, we will cast off these cultural restraints and God will reveal His Deity at levels we cannot currently appreciate. It will take a passion, a self-discipline, and perseverance greater than most have to day to witness it.

Omnipotence? I am alive today because of it.

Blessings,

John Paul

“Prayer is the utterance to God of that which we long for in light of the reality that God’s desire is that we long for it.” John Paul Jackson

Kneeling here before the Altar of Incense you think you are praying, but in reality God’s Spirit is praying through you. That is good, for man is incapable of deep Spiritual prayer. Our most profound insights are trite in comparison to God’s perfections of your prayer. It is His Spirit that perfects the words that arise to Him - proof that the coal is doing its work in you. You are not wrong to pray, you are drawn to pray by God. He deeply desires to commune with you. However, the pride of thinking that our thought might be lofty, can cloud even the most noble of prayers. A heart found kneeling is a blessed position before the Lord of all Creation.

So, the smoke of your prayer arises. Human breath mingled with God’s. Finite swirling with infinite, temporal joined with Eternal, all flowing out of your innermost being. This is a Divine wonder - God’s thoughts are coursing through you and back to Him. Your nature involved with His in a total, sweet, saturated fragrance. You are nearly ready to walk into the next Room of Mystery, the Holy of Holies. But, you need to meditate on the five elements of prayer and spice co-joined in the smoke arising before you for a while. Those five foundations of prayer and the five spices blended together are:

Stacte/Contemplation - Heals the Spirit and is contemplative in nature. It is a level of meditation that helps you to recognize His ways so that you might know Him, not just know about Him. It is the wonder that in His will, He founded the earth by wisdom; He established the heavens by understanding; by His knowledge the depths burst apart, and the skies distilled dew. Do not lose sight of these things; hold on to the resourcefulness He brings to you and cherish foresight both will give life to your spirit and grace to your speech (Prov. 3:19-21).

Onycha/Devotion - Heals the Flesh and it is devotional in nature. It is the adhesion of your body to His. The carnal nature is let go and your body becomes the vehicle to accomplish the advancement of God’s Kingdom. It is knowing that your life will be better walking out His plan for your life, affecting those He brings you into contact with, and oozing His Spirit into a world devoid of His presence - a world who still loves darkness rather than light - until they meet true light.

Galbanum/Supplication - Heals the soul and it is oozing with supplication. It is very passionate, and fervent prayer. It is also extremely effectual and accomplishes great things for the Kingdom. It is your mind, will, and emotions, entirely focused on Him. It is the letting go of that which you long for, so that what He longs for can not only be prayed, but experienced in your life. It is the loss of you trying to make God conform to your will and to what you want.

Frankincense/Intercession - Is Intercession for others. It was a gift brought to Jesus at His birth and, as a precious spice, it was a gift brought for Him at His burial. It is the recognition that He came into this world to introduce a means of sin purification and that He accomplished that purpose. More so - it is the total acceptance that Jesus accomplished His mission. It is Jesus interceding for you right now. It is part of the Glory of God and its’ presence in you is the Hope of Glory in Him. It is you being prepared and anointed to die to your old self and transform into the image of the Living Christ.

Salt/Worship/Adoration - Salt is worship and adoration. It preserves and advances the Kingdom and it recognizes that you exist because of His great mercy and grace. It is you offering all you are, the crowns you have won, the accomplishments you have achieved, the visions that came to pass, offering it all back to Him. It is you admitting that without Him and Him gifting you the ways He did, you would have achieved nothing. What God has done in and through you made you the salt of the Earth, without Him doing that - you at best would have been salt without savor. Salt is you mingling in the world and the world being a better place because of it.

Your Old Man is fading and you are being raised a new creation in Christ. You are almost ready for the Next Room of Mystery. However, there are two more areas that need addressing before the Veil is lifted or torn for you.

Blessings,

John Paul

“To him who overcomes …”

TWO OTHER SPICES

There are two other spices listed as part of the five spices to be equally measured and blended together; those two are pure frankincense and salt.

Pure Frankincense - its Hebrew name is Levonah and it means, white light that whitens. It is symbolic for the purification of our sins. Remember, on the Table of Shewbread there was frankincense burning in a bowl on top of he bread. It has been found that burning frankincense helps to alleviate anxiety and depression. It also repels insects, as such it is thought that frankincense keeps spiritual pests away that are sent by the evil one to distract us from our goal of praying. On top of all of that, frankincense amplifies sound, so the prayers we make are in essence amplified. It was present both at the birth of Jesus, and the crucifixion of Jesus.

Salt - Scripture calls for the tempering of the spices. Tempering means to add salt. Salt heals the wound, kills the germs, and is a preservative. You, as the salt of the earth, do this every day. So in a manner of speaking you are offering all the good you have done back to God. Yes, I know it is the Holy Spirit flowing through and from you that does it all - nice religious answer, but God’s Spirit flows through and around you. This is one of the “ways of God.”

PERPETUAL PRAYER

Just as the incense was to perpetually burn, we are to walk in an “attitude of prayer not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer.” (Romans 12:11-12)

Each day the priest would chip off a small part of the block of compacted incense. He would then crush it to a fine powder and pour it over the hot coals on the Golden Altar in order to release the fragrant aroma inherent in the smoke.

BURNING COALS AND FIREY TRIALS

Burning coals, like fiery darts, represent the trials you face daily. Carry that thought one step further, and you see the heat from those coals of the moment release your prayers. Without heat, prayers are not released. In some mysterious way, crisis seems to drive you to God. In that search for God, you overcome that which sought to destroy you.

JESUS CONQUERED THE COALS TO ARISE

These coals represent the moment before Jesus ascended to the Father. Before He ascended, He first descended to the place of the coals (Sheol) and preached to those there the good news of who He was. He overcame the burning coals to rise to the Father. This is another reason why the smoke is such a sweet aroma to the Father, it also represents your overcoming the trials of this Earth that the enemy attempts to use to destroy your faith. Said another way - you have overcome!

ETERNAL TIME FRAMES

Notice, Jesus ascended to the Father before He did so on the Mountain in Matthew 28. How do you know that? Because, He told Mary not tot touch Him because He had not yet ascended to the Father. Then, a short time later, He allowed the women who were on their way to report to the others that He had risen from the dead to touch Him. In that short time span, Jesus had ascended to the Father and returned.

When one enters into the Eternal realm there is no time, thus God can send you back into this time at the same moment He took you. Eternally speaking, a thousand years in Eternity can take one earthly second. Said another way, a thousand years on earth is as a day with God.

Here are some Promises of God to you.

• “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7
• “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” Revelation 2:11
• “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” Revelation 2:17
• “And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations.” Revelation 2:26
• “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Revelation 3:5
• “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God.” Revelation 3:12

Be encouraged!

Blessings,

John Paul