Kingdom Manna (9)
Table of Contents (Scroll down to view all)
1. Satans
2. The Millennial Reign
3. The Kingdom Within vs the Kingdom Among
4. Sound Doctrine
5. From Glory to Glory
Satans
By Lanny Swaim
When an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Thus he saith, I will return unto my house from whence I came out…
Matthew 12:43-44
Ephesians 2:22 speaks of believers being a habitation of God through the Spirit. It stands to reason, that if we are God’s dwelling place, demonic spirits are also looking for a dwelling place. Matthew 12:43-44 (above) confirms this truth.
So the question becomes, can a believer be the dwelling place of the Godhead, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and a dwelling place for an evil spirit at the same time?
A natural example is this: My wife and I own our house. It is our dwelling place. But when her dad was in the final months of his life on earth, he came to live with us. Legally it was our home, our dwelling place, but we allowed him to spend his last months on earth sharing our dwelling place with it becoming his dwelling place too.
The key word in this natural example is allowed. We allowed my father-in-law to make our home his dwelling place. Demons can only indwell the flesh of believers if they are allowed to. While they may have moved in without permission, they are squatters and have no legal right to be there because we are now possessed by the Godhead. We belong to Him and He indwells us, so we have the authority to cast the evil spirits out.
In Galatians 4:19 the apostle Paul said he travailed as in giving birth for the Galatians to become fully indwelled with Christ (see The Amplified Bible). To be fully indwelled with Christ is to be mature, having become like God in character experientially and not only positionally, leaving no room in us for anyone but Him. But when we initially accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we are immature, just beginning on a journey to get to know Him and become like Him. So there is the possibility that demonic spirits may still have a stronghold in our lives, not possessing us but still indwelling us. Having recognized Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we now belong to Him; are possessed by Him, so we cannot be possessed by an evil spirit. But we can still be influenced by evil spirits, even indwelled by them.
I often teach that this life we live as believers is not about us, it is entirely about Him; Jesus living His life in and through us. As we become more and more mature, this becomes more and more our reality. Demons also want someone to indwell, to live their lives in and through as well. When we initially recognize and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, there may already be and probably are demons indwelling our flesh. They can’t touch our spirit, but they can indwell our flesh.
I am convinced that as we mature these demonic influences in our lives just fall away, no longer having any power over us. But there are instances when demonic influence in a believer’s life is so great that deliverance is needed; either the believer or someone else simply taking authority over the demonic spirit and casting it out.
I had an experience with this as a young believer over fifty years ago.
Before I initially experienced being born again (born from above), I had become extremely depressed emotionally. The night I invited Jesus to become the Lord of my life, I immediately felt a dramatic change on the inside and the depression was gone. But later it returned.
However, I had learned that there is authority in the name of Jesus. I had also learned a little about evil spirits, and God revealed to me that this depression I was once again dealing with was an evil spirit. As Matthew 12:43-44 (above) says, depression had left me when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior that night, but it then returned, found its former dwelling place (me) swept clean, and because of my immaturity was able to return to its former dwelling place.
So what did I do? I didn’t go back into my past trying to determine how I had invited this demonic spirit of depression into my life in the first place. There is a popular practice of this kind of deliverance that has spread through The Body of Christ in recent years, which is a very soulish form of deliverance. What is accomplished by soulish means must be maintained by soulish means.
I had a good friend who thought she had been delivered by this soulish practice of deliverance, and a few years later the cost of this false deliverance was her life. She died at sixty years old, a direct result of having thought she was delivered when in reality she was not.
When we look at examples of people being delivered of demonic spirits in the Bible, it wasn’t a long, drawn-out process. Someone simply spoke to the evil spirit with authority and it left.
So that’s what I did. I spoke to depression in the name of Jesus and commanded it to leave me. The first time I did this, it didn’t leave immediately but eventually did. But then it came back again. Evidently, this spirit wasn’t going to give up easily. So I did the same thing again, and once again it left. However, it came back again. So I told it to leave again.
Each time I did this, depression left a little quicker and stayed gone longer. I don’t remember how many times I commanded it to leave, but eventually when I told it to leave, it left immediately and took much longer to return.
Then, one day I realized it had been about twenty years since I had been depressed. And today, it’s been over fifty years. Mission accomplished.
Why satans (plural)?
As we studied in our last Kingdom Manna teaching, Satan is actually more of a title than a proper name. The Book of Enoch uses the word in the plural form; satans.
We also studied how the Satan, who The Book of Jubilees identifies as Mastema, was created by God to be his agent to mature us. It seems that these satans (demons) often overstep their boundaries by indwelling people and in various ways controlling their lives, often causing much harm to those indwelled and others.
In the preceding paragraphs you read how these satans either entered our lives before we gave our lives to the Lord or we allowed them to enter after we gave our lives to the Lord, due to immaturity on our part.
You also read how we have authority to cast them out.
But in other instances, these demonic beings (satans) attack believers instead of attempting to indwell them. The apostle Paul is an example of this.
Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9
God’s grace is His empowerment. Grace is what enables us to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Because of the many revelations Paul had, there was the possibility that, because he was a man, he might begin to think more highly of himself than he should. So he was given a messenger of Satan to buffet (strike/attack) him, to keep his flesh in check, causing him to rely entirely on the Godhead that indwelled him, that the glory and power of the anointing might rest on him, enabling him to accomplish all God had purposed for him to accomplish as an apostle.
This is an example of how God uses satans to keep his ministers on the straight and narrow path as ministers of the Gospel.
I was recently sharing with a friend how, because of the calling of God on our lives, we can’t get away with anything.
It seems many believers are not held to the same standard we are. Many believers go about their lives making choices and decisions we are not allowed to make, and it doesn’t seem to cause them the problems we always seem to face, should we stray even slightly from the path we have been given to walk.
James wrote about this in James 3:1. The Amplified reads: NOT MANY [of you] should become teachers [serving in an official teaching capacity], my brothers and sisters, for you know that we [who are teachers] will be judged by a higher standard…
Perhaps this was the case with Paul. Because of the apostolic calling on his life and the scope of influence he was to have, not only to the Church at that time but to future generations, he had to walk in a higher standard than others were required to. And the challenges he faced, that kept him on that narrow path, also did a work in him that perhaps could not have been accomplished any other way.
I believe this is the case because I find it to be true in my own life. While I don’t desire tests and trials, which appear to be attacks from satans, I wouldn’t take anything for what they have accomplished in me.
In conclusion
When satans overstep their boundaries and indwell believers, and when we use our authority to cast them out, it gives us confidence in our position of authority over the devil, enforcing what Jesus accomplished at the cross when he defeated all satans.
We are the dwelling place of the Godhead, possessed by Him, and evil spirits are no threat to us.
Even when they attack us as was the case with Paul, God’s grace is sufficient to enable us to overcome and continue on.
It is important for us to know who Satan is, which reveals who he is not.
At the end of Matthew’s account of The Gospel, Jesus informs us that all power (authority) has been given to Him in Heaven and Earth (that’s everywhere), and then He sends us to the nations with that same authority (see Matthew 28:18-20).
Surely we were born for such a time as this.
The Millennial Reign
By Lanny Swaim
I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Revelation 20:1-2, 6
John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ is not a chronological order of events nor is it the revelation of so called end-times, a term that cannot be found in the Bible.
Revelation 19:10 informs us that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
A few years ago I was in an incredible meeting in York, Pennsylvania and it was prophesied in that meeting that prophecy was no longer going be perceived as someone standing up and saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” but that we are going to become prophecy.
As Christ is fully formed in us (see Galatians 4:19 AMP), our lives will become a testimony of who Jesus is, revealing His character, authority and power, as He lives His life in us and through us; the result being His testimony will become our testimony, one and the same as we will experientially become one and the same with Him.
When people see us, they will see Him.
This is not something we accomplish by changing our behavior, it is who we are because He indwells us and that is changing our behavior.
As His testimony becomes our testimony, with His testimony being the spirit of prophecy, we will literally become the spirit of prophecy.
While prophecy does sometimes reveal future events, that only happens in the context of prophecy revealing Jesus.
Positionally we are already there, but as we experientially walk this out, Satan is finished. Actually, when Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” the devil lost all the power and authority he may have appeared to have.
The only reason he appears to have any power and authority on Earth is because Christians don’t realize he was completely defeated two thousand years ago.
But the time will come when the Lord’s Ekklesia (Greek for Church meaning a governing/legislative body) will walk in this revelation and reality, diminishing the devil's power and influence on Earth.
Will this be a literal thousand years, as Revelation 20:2 states? I don’t know.
But this I do know: If Christians had been walking in the knowledge of who we are in Christ and who He is in us, the devil would have been locked away for the past two thousand years.
Perhaps the reason Revelation 20:2&6 speaks of a thousand years is because it has to do with revelation coming forth during this seventh day/millennium since creation, which is the third day/millennium of the Ekklesia.
Maybe the thousand years of Revelation 20:2&6 is not a literal thousand years but takes place during a literal thousand years. I’m not ready to say that is revelation to me. It could simply be speculation on my part. But in any case, I think it is worth considering.
Regardless, there is coming a time when our realization of who we are in Christ and who He is in us will literally change the world.
And that, saints of God, is our destiny.
The term Millennial Reign or Kingdom Reign as it is sometimes called, is not in the Bible, but is probably taken from the thousand years of Revelation 20:2&6.
The important thing is that we understand what is occurring, rather than exactly when it will occur.
Having said that, I must say again, surely we were born for such a time as this!
The Kingdom Within vs The Kingdom Among
By Lanny Swaim
And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo here! Or, low there! For, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:20-21 (emphasis added)
The Greek word for within is entos, and can be also translated as among or in the midst of. The Amplified Bible makes the above scripture reference much clearer.
Now having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He replied, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed or with a visible display: nor will people say, ‘Look! Here it is!’ Or, ‘There it is.’ For the kingdom of God is among you [because of My presence].”
We must remember that Jesus was speaking to Pharisees in this scripture reference. Because of the Pharisees’ ritualistic, religious stance, obviously The Kingdom of God did not reside in them. So Jesus wouldn’t have been saying to them that the Kingdom resided in them. Instead, He was saying that the Kingdom was among them or in the midst of them, without their recognizing its presence.
It has been thought that within is the correct translation, giving the assumption that the Kingdom is completely spiritual and in no way visible and certainly not political. But if the correct translation is among or in the midst of instead of within, that changes the way we recognize and understand the Kingdom, and it’s manifestation in the earth.
After all, Jesus did teach His disciples to pray that His Kingdom would come in earth as in Heaven (see Matthew 6:10 & Luke 11:2).
The apostle Paul informs us in Ephesians 2:22 that we, The Body of Christ, are corporately a habitation of God through the Spirit. We are indwelled by the Godhead. Therefore, I suppose you could say that The Kingdom of God lives within us. But God doesn’t just live in us, He lives in and through us, establishing the Kingdom in Earth as in Heaven.
We are the vehicle through which the Kingdom is manifesting throughout the earth, in every aspect of mankind’s involvement in the earth. Because of us, the Kingdom is among all the inhabitants of the earth, in the midst of all the goings on of the earth.
And as we step up to the plate, so to speak, more and more becoming the Lord’s Ekklesia (Greek for Church, meaning a governing/legislative body), the presence of the Kingdom in the world will literally change the world, bringing about the ultimate and complete fulfillment of Revelation 11:15:
The kingdoms [nations] of this world are become the kingdoms [Kingdom] of our Lord [Jesus], and of his Christ [the Body of Christ]. And he [we] shall reign for ever and ever.
Sound Doctrine
By Lanny Swaim
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
Acts 2:46-47
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42 (emphasis added)
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
2 Timothy 4:2-4 (emphasis added)
On this website is a page entitled, An Apostolic Vision, which should be read before reading this Kingdom Manna article. An Apostolic Vision is a rather long article with chapters, and at some point may be published as a pamphlet.
In that article I mentioned James Rutz and a book he wrote entitled, Megashift, which I think every believer should read. Megashift documents the world-wide house church movement. In it Rutz speaks of networks of house churches coming together in larger groups from time to time, but cautions against house churches coming together in larger groups too often; the danger being they may fall back into familiar habits and traditions of men rather than being led by the Holy Spirit.
However, the Jerusalem Church of the first century, according to the scripture references above from Acts, met daily in the temple and from house to house.
Perhaps the reason they came together daily in the temple was because thousands of new believers were being added to the Church (see Acts 2:41, 47) who knew very little if anything about the teachings of Jesus.
The disciples (apostles) who had been with Jesus for 3 ½ years and then baptized with the Holy Spirit had an understanding of sound doctrine that the new believers needed to be taught, giving them a foundation to then build upon as the Holy Spirit began to give them direct revelation as they grew to know the Lord personally.
It appears that they then began meeting from house to house, probably sharing what each one was receiving from the Spirit, edifying and building each other up spiritually as they grew and matured in the Lord, having been taught sound doctrine, giving them a firm foundation to build upon.
I believe that today we have a very similar situation.
The Church of the first century, by the end of the first century, after having been a powerful Church that was accused of turning the world upside down with the Gospel (see Acts 17:6), had in many cases departed from sound doctrine, as evidenced by the letters to seven churches in Asia (see Revelation, chapters 2&3).
Then in the fourth century, the Roman Emperor Constantine made it legal to be a Christian in The Roman Empire and seventy years later Emperor Theodosius made it law that every Roman citizen had to be a Christian, marrying church and state, an act of spiritual adultery and the powerful apostolic church of the first century died, becoming a dead religious organization.
But almost immediately the Lord began a process of restoration of the apostolic Church of the first century. However, that process has lasted for centuries, starting with remnant groups who suffered greatly for opposing The Roman Catholic Church. Then The Protestant Reformation brought many changes but fell short of a complete restoration. Add to that many revival movements, most short lived but still advancing the Church toward a complete reformation.
While much of the false doctrine taught by The Roman Catholic Church has been corrected, much has not, and has even been added to with other false doctrine.
Today there is a remnant of believers who are beginning to see the error in much we have been taught, seeing the Kingdom of God much clearer than many generations of believers have seen it. However, old traditions and old mindsets die hard.
As networks of house churches and apostolic hubs begin to emerge, much false doctrine will have to be corrected. Otherwise, the new reformation of the Church will only be a new reformation of structure void of truth, making it of little if any importance in advancing the Kingdom of God in earth as in Heaven.
This may require house churches coming together frequently in larger groups with apostolic oversight and sound doctrine being taught.
In An Apostolic Vision I wrote of an open vision Robert Meadows saw in a cotton field near Maysville, NC. He saw a very large building with a main auditorium that would seat 15,000 people.
This may be a place where house churches can come together, not just from eastern North Carolina but from many states, even from all over the world.
All of this is still future, but I don’t believe it is distant future. Time will reveal the details of how this will play out.
There is also the possibility these larger meetings might not involve entire house churches coming together, but only house church overseers or other five-fold giftings and/or ministries. When Robert Meadows saw the building in the cotton field near Maysville, NC the Lord told him it would be a training center where people would come in for a period of time and then go out all over the world.
Time will tell how all this plays out, but for now I must continue laying a foundation with articles such as this one, because, surely we were born for such a time as this!
From Glory to Glory
By Lanny Swaim
Praise until the spirit of worship comes. Worship until the glory comes. Then stand in the glory.
Ruth Heflin
The hallmark of the Remnant Bride of Christ, is worship.
Lanny Swaim
We all, with open face beholding as in a glass [mirror] the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
The Bride of Christ at the current time is not the entire Body of Christ. Just as Eve was taken out of Adam in order to complete him, the Remnant Bride of Christ is currently being taken out of the Body of Christ in order to complete the Body of Christ.
That’s why more and more are finding it impossible to continue doing church like it has been done for centuries.
A few years ago the Lord spoke to me and said, “The hallmark of the Remnant Bride of Christ is worship.”
True spiritual worship is no less than intimacy with the Lord.
We can worship and participate in that intimacy individually and should, but when we come together corporately and worship the Lord in spirit and in truth, something exceptionally powerful happens. During these times of corporate worship, God’s presence often manifests in various ways; sometimes something we just feel but at other times with supernatural manifestations.
In his book, The God Chasers, Tommy Tenney writes of places where corporate worship takes place on a regular basis, and how there seems to be a residue of God’s presence that remains in the room where this happens, whether it is in a church sanctuary or some other venue (see chapter 3; There’s Got to be More – Rediscovering the manifest presence of God).
Several years ago I led worship for about three years at a small local church near my home. We saw the presence of God manifest in many supernatural ways during times of worship and ministry.
Often, before the Sunday morning service, I would arrive at the church building around 6:00am to spend time in prayer before people started arriving for the 10:30am service. There were times when I would walk into the room where our services were held and my knees would buckle, nearly putting me on the floor. The presence of God definitely lingered in that room with a powerful manifestation.
The Book of Jubilees in The Ethiopian Bible speaks of angels of the presence, which is one of the highest orders of angels. The indication is that sometimes when God speaks or appears to someone, it may be an angel of the presence instead of God Himself. And yet, this angel of the presence is so closely tied to God that in essence it is God Himself.
Perhaps this is a secret as to how God is omnipresent.
One of the supernatural manifestations of God’s presence I and others have experienced during times of corporate worship is the appearance of angels and/or angels singing. Perhaps these are angels of the presence who never leave the room where corporate worship takes place on a regular basis, leaving a residue of God’s presence always in that facility.
Something else that often happens during times of true spiritual worship is the gifts of the Spirit being activated. Often people receive a word from the Lord, or see a vision that should be shared with the entire group. There have even been times when I have stopped leading worship and someone in the congregation starts another song acapella, with others then joining in.
I love it when that happens, because that’s how worship takes place in a small group meeting where there is no worship leader but the Holy Spirit.
True spiritual worship of this nature is a participatory experience, where everyone joins in. Even when there is a worship leader, time should be allowed for those present to contribute to the service as they are led by the Spirit to do so.
However, the emphasis is on being led by the Spirit. This is not a time for individuals to simply speak whatever is on their minds.
As the above quote by Ruth Heflin says, praise leads to worship, which causes the manifested presence of God to come; that being a manifestation of His glory. And it is this kind of worshipping in spirit and in truth that is becoming the hallmark of the Bride of Christ.
We are seeing this in revival moves breaking out on college campuses and in other groups coming together for worship. In a recent chapel service at Asbury University, the Holy Spirit showed up (manifested) with an almost tangible presence of God and the service continued non-stop for several days thereafter with continual worship. The leadership at the university eventually shut it down so students would go back to class.
As this becomes more and more the case, and spreads throughout the earth, I believe we will see the fulfillment of Habakkuk 2:14:
For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Surely we were born for such a time as this!