“Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are…” This was Jesus’ prayer, and today, it is our prayer as well: “Father, make us one.” If Jesus prayed, if Jesus believed, if Jesus is the first fruit among many brothers, this fruit of His prayer has to come from the vine, and we are the branches! Let’s read John 17:9-24. Whatever it was supposed to be, it already is! Whatever He asked to be done, it was already done! “Not my will but your will be done.” When we walk in this mindset, all that He asked the Father to do will be manifested through us! He had nothing else to do; He had done His part!
“While I was with them in the world,” Jesus was praying right in front of them. Jesus wanted to make sure that they understood it. “…I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled” (verse 12). Wow, He is speaking prophetically. Wow, He says, “When I was with them,” when He was standing in front of them. He was already slain before the foundation of the world. He was not speaking as Jesus, Son, and sacrifice. He was speaking as Alpha and Omega. This is how He wants to transform us.
Dead religious mindsets can’t understand the scriptures that they read. All the understanding we get has to come from revelation. They still have uncircumcised hearts and minds. “And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves” (verse 13). He prayed that His joy be fulfilled in our own self, but look at your joy. What are you drinking? Whose blood are you drinking? Your own blood or the blood of Jesus? Your own pain, your own ways, your own power, your own wisdom, your own mind? You are not of the world (verse 14). Why are you trying to fit in? If your earthly family is going to church and reading the Bible but not drinking from His cup, they are eating from the wrong table. I don’t care how nice and Christian they are. How long have they been attending services in organized religion?
The truth sanctifies us (verse 17). Today, when and if you hear His Word, you are being sanctified! His Word is truth! If you want to be one with Jesus, you need to be one with the Word. If you don’t love the Word, you don’t love Jesus. Are you sitting at the table where the Truth is being served? Are you sitting and eating from it? Only when you eat the bread that He gives can you drink His cup and all the benefits that it has given you. We cannot just drink His blood and not eat His Word. The Word mentions that He first took the bread and then later, the wine (Luke 22:19-20). Many people just get drunk in their own religion and their own way, trying to get free when they refuse to obey His Word. “Eat His Word!” That is why many are sick and weak and consumed. They cannot stand on the Word because they refuse to follow it!
We must do the same: “And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth” (verse 19). We sanctify ourselves for the sake of others. Jesus was talking to the 12, trying to understand the Kingdom. He prayed for them but “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (verse 20). Wow! That is, you, me, and the Body. You must eat the Word to be the Word! So, they could believe in Him through the Word that you are listening to now, through the past messages, and through His messengers. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (verse 21). “You are what you eat…” This saying is literally true in the Kingdom of God. The more you eat, the more you become.
Do you want revival? Become one. Do you want the world to believe? Start believing first. Everything the Father gave to Jesus when we are one, we receive it as well! Jesus believed in His own self to walk in the authority and power that he walked in. He had to believe in what He heard and saw in the written word first. Satan wants to come and divide you from the Truth that you believe. Whatever you have has to come out! It is time for one encounter! My daily freedom, my daily deliverance, my daily bread! Communion grows from this place that is only you and Him. And from your communion with Him, a community starts happening! Communion brings community with the Body!
“And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (verse 22). Glory attracts glory! Christ becomes GLORIFIED! This is what God is doing, preparing us to show off as a glorified church/body! Signs and wonders and exploits will follow only those who believe. They follow the Word, and the Word follows them! God never forsakes us, but we forsake Him; we leave Him! “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world” (verse 24). God loved us as well even before the foundation of the world! Are you one or do you feel alone?
One of the biggest problems in the Body is that everyone is worried about someone else, what they are doing or not doing! What they do say or what they don’t say! This and that! But those who do this are just as bad! They don’t see that they are doing the same or worse than the ones they are judging! This judging spirit makes you religious! This is all self-righteousness, and it’s detestable in God’s eyes! Worse than that, what could we possibly do wrong in the flesh? Unbelief. Unbelief concerning what He said and who you are. If we cannot love, we cannot be loved by Him because we will be separated from Him! Unbelief is worse than what you do in a moment of weakness, things that you would never do if you were perfect!
You are just being a Pharisee. Pharisees don’t see as Jesus sees. Out of everything, what He hated the worst was this spirit and judging others, a critical spirit! The worst thing that Jesus hated was the spirit of the pharisees. They were always exalting self! Exalting their ways, their own doctrine, their reasoning, and their uncircumcised heart. They could not see anything else. They could not see CHRIST! We cannot be partakers of this religious spirit! When we start to eat that leaven of the pharisees, that bread of the pharisees, we can no longer see Christ in our brothers and sisters. This was the warning of Jesus: “Beware of the leaven of the pharisees” (Matthew 16:6-12). This bread makes you blind. It brings unbelief and self-righteousness. This is the spirit of Cain. It will kill the Holy Spirit in us. They only can see the outside of the cup.
The only thing that these religious spirits will produce is thorns and thistles! Anger, strife, accusations, assumption, gossip, and jealousy. All these things that Jesus despises the most. God is asking, “Have you seen you? Are you out of your mind?” This is what He is saying to the pharisees. You’re even worse than those you criticize! This stronghold needs to be broken! It is pure pride! You think you are clean, but you are a filthy rag because you condemn. You are living in condemnation and depression. We are probably one of the most blessed bodies in all of this nation, but we can’t even see it anymore! Even the disciples could not see how blessed they were. When people get blessed more and more, they get worse than when they were in need if they have a religious spirit!
We do not want God to have to decrease us! We cannot play with the Word of God! We must abide in Him and love! We have seen the cross! Being disgruntled makes us ungrateful! Have you ever seen a disgruntled employee? All they do is complain! Judas was disgruntled! Whatever was just depression started to become oppression and then regression, and then possession! Instead of running to God and repenting, we get worse and worse. Judas was still sitting at the table but eating his own bread. He had lost his mind! Satan entered into him. Satan and Judas were having fellowship for a long time! Simple negative agreements will eventually make us negative and stop the hope in us. Paul also said we cannot eat from the table of devils and the table of the Lord. We can’t ever underestimate the power of darkness! Many churches ignore the Word of God, and satan is taking over them all! There are many things that God will do if you don’t do what He told you to do, and He will allow satan to do it. If you don’t repent, if you don’t forgive, if you don’t follow His Word, satan is at your door! Don’t keep looking at just this scripture (God is love) but at all the full loaf of God! We must eat the whole loaf! There are many scriptures exclusively for the disobedient children, but we skip over them because we have unbelief. We cherry-pick and only meditate on the words for the obedient while we are in rebellion. This is insanity and will cause deception.
Satan uses the same word that was sent to help you walk in holiness to make you feel like you don’t fit in and that you must do something to earn His kingdom. He uses this word to manipulate your emotions. You can’t be committed; you can’t be fully in. Who makes us one? It is The Spirit! But if you don’t become one with the Body, it is because you are not one with His Word and His Spirit! You think something is off! Yes! It is YOU! You are listening to all these off people, strange voices, and your own feelings because you left the table of the Lord, and you are sitting in Judas’s seat. You may be sitting at the table, but you have become an enemy of the Lord. This is the spirit of Cain. When you sit together, then the scripture is for you who are on the opposite end. He prepares a table in the presence of an enemy of the cross, of love, and of truth. There is nothing off in the Spirit but YOU!
The moment your emotions arise, you do what your old man wants: you start fearing, you start leaving behind what you have learned! We say things like, “Yes, I have to pray,” but you know what…when you are one with Him, you don’t have to ask God for signs. The signs just follow those who believe. The only time that happens is because you are in confusion. Strive to enter into His rest! When you are not resting, it is because you are not believing. It is because you are disobeying the Word of God. Then you feel disconnected. It is because the connection Jesus talks about is spiritual. You can't be spiritual without the Word!
The only connection that is in the flesh is between husband and wife, but besides that, all of us must be connected by the Spirit of God. Only those who have left their father and mother and have cleaved to his new spiritual family are one with the Spirit of God and with His church! This is the great mystery! No matter where we are, those who are connected by the Spirit will always be connected! If one part is not in the Spirit, that won’t happen! When you are not in the Spirit, you are already disconnected from the Body and from God! Being in the Spirit is to be in the Word! Being in one accord is the reflection of being one in the Spirit! Jesus and Paul were always excited about assembling with the saints! Because when we don’t, we start losing connection with those in the Spirit! Sometimes we lose connection when we are in our own storm. People in the Body of Christ are telling you which way to go during it, but you still go your way. Then you start losing that connection, and you go your way, being mad that you feel alone because you are, but no one left you disconnected. You separated yourself from them, from the Spirit, and from the Word and the Body! But you were the one who cut that connection! Rebellion is the sin of witchcraft. You are in control and in confusion!
It’s like musical chairs: the devil plays your song, and if not this person, then it turns to that person! The enemy plays the same song, and when you are his puppet, you play along.
The music he plays is called offense, lack of forgiveness, bitterness, dissatisfaction, all these things are of the flesh! And you dance along! Whoever is exalting himself above the Word of God is the one who takes that seat! But when it is stuck on one person, it is like the Hot Potato game! When you get your eyes on your faults, your imperfections, and your flaws, you need to stop that. Put your eyes on Him, on Jesus. Let Him be the judge of all men! Let Him decide what’s right, what’s wrong, what’s fair, and what’s unfair! Mind your own business, and watch how you become free and full of joy! Why are you playing the game of Hot Potato? The potato is burning your hands, but you would rather hold it even as the blisters are forming. The potatoes are the offense, unforgiveness, and self-righteousness. Because of your pride, you would rather burn than honor your brother and sister and the Word of God. Even when God uses them to help you, you must make sure you let them know, “God already told me about it.” You are beginning to buy an island, and you will be a castaway on it if you don’t humble yourself!
I will be reading from 2nd Thessalonians chapter 3, but first, let’s look at the previous chapter, 2 Thessalonians 2. Let’s see what Chapter 2 is all about, and then we will move on to Chapter 3.
Here are some highlights of chapter 2 of 2nd Thessalonians:
- Falling away (from the faith): that’s unbelief. When you stop believing, you fall away! We can’t follow something unless we believe.
2) That son of perdition is revealed who exposes himself as God (pride).
3) The mystery of iniquity is already at work!
4) The son of perdition and those who believe a lie will be manifested. Very interesting! You can become a strong believer, but you can still be an unbeliever in the eyes of Jesus. You are just a believer of lies. You still are a believer, but you are just believing in the wrong thing. Like people that are offended. They believe in the Word today but believe in a lie tomorrow.
5) Lying signs and wonders.
6) Those who do not receive the love of the Truth! See, people go to hell not only because of sin but because they do not receive the love of the Truth! Jesus became sin for us, so believe in Him or be in sin. So, the sin that defiles us is unbelief!
Let’s read 2 Thessalonians 3. Did you realize that you cannot have the Glory of God without having the Word of God? You cannot experience John 17 until you first become one with the Word. You cannot become loyal to your brothers and sisters until you are loyal to your first brother, Jesus, which is the Word. People think they can obtain the benefits of the Kingdom without the Word of God.
We need to be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men (verse 2). Paul was talking about wickedness; he was considering wicked men as men without faith! Not to believe is to be wicked; not to obey is to be wicked! Wickedness is not only the works of witches but also the works of those who don’t believe! We can be a Christian and be wicked if we lose our faith! The Lord is faithful in delivering you from evil, from wicked men that lack faith (verse 3).
God wants us to do all the things that He commanded us to do (verse 4), but without faith, we won’t do anything! We say, “But you don’t know what happened to me…” The Word won’t change you just because He is for you. The power of God cannot be just a little bit; it is all power or no power. The Word sets us free; the Word sets us apart; the Word sanctifies us. What Paul is saying is, “I have the power of choice, but because of other people, because of the glory of God, I make myself an example unto you to follow me (verse 9). Nobody can blame anybody for the choices they make. My heart today is that after I am done preaching, and satan turns on your favorite song again, you won’t let him play it anymore; then you won’t be depressed anymore, angry, and separated from the joy of the Lord.
To be a busybody is not just a characteristic of a gossiper but of people who care too much about what others do and don’t do! We stop doing what we are called to do, “not working at all” (verse 11), because we are too busy looking at those who are lazy, and we become lazy as well! Just do your part and let them go! You want to be accepted; you want to be liked? Be in the Spirit and that will happen. You want to blame your call; you want to blame someone, but you never see yourself as the problem. If you are heavy, it is your fault. If you are not free, it is your fault. If you listen to the devil, and not to your spiritual covering, it is your fault. If you lack joy, it is your fault. At the end of the day, when you pick up your cross, everything that you really want is at the cross. The kingdom of God is in full operation! But what are you eating? The Word of God or your thoughts? Your feelings or His bread? Eat now His Word, and keep eating! God wants to burn rebellion out of you.
It’s the rebellion in you that God has to burn out of you! We are no longer God! We have been bought with His blood! We are bought, that means you don’t belong to yourselves anymore. The craziest thing is that God gives us the power to make our own decisions. He does not make us not love, not forgive. He gives us full power to decide to do these things. When we decide to obey, grace is there to do whatever He says. It is only when we rebel in our pride that we become distant, disgruntled, and delusional. All up to us! Those who are partakers of His body and bread, and you get mad at others who are walking in freedom and becoming resentful.
You are a disgruntled child! God would be a liar or evil if He was really what you are starting to believe He is through the enemy’s eyes. Satan makes you think you are a special case, deceiving you not to believe the Word of God and to believe in your circumstances. Your circumstances become your reality, not the Word of God!
The worst thing in the world is knowing that the heart of someone you love is failing them, becoming full of indignation, and satan is getting in, and there is nothing you can do about it. There is nothing Jesus can do to change the situation because Judas had the power to make the right decision, but Jesus could not stop him. And they don’t want to do anything about it! It’s the worst feeling in the world! Think about this: this is what Jesus felt with Judas. He must have been so distraught, but He had to keep it together!
Let's clear the air. I understand. I have fully been a leader for 16 years. I understand. I have heard it all. I have been to personal counseling sessions over a thousand times with people. I am not complaining. I am just saying, I know about these spirits! Always the same answer - different situations, different problems, but the answer is always the same: repentance, the Word, the blood, the cross! Victory is at the cross. It is not automatic. You must pick up your cross! Victory happens only when you decide to pick it up and obey the Word! The Word says, you have victory, but you don’t repent. The Word says, you have joy, but you don’t follow the Word. The Word says, you have freedom, but you don’t forgive. They stand on the Word, but they exalt themselves above the Word! It is like standing on the Bible, thinking that this is what standing on the Word really means. No! That book under your feet is just a bunch of paper if you don’t obey it! Obedience is pure faith in whatever is written in that book!
Then you say this, “But you don’t know what they did…” Let God deal with them, but your deal is that you’re in constant rebellion to God’s Word! Not submitted to His Spirit! Every single time! Yes, I will sit and do it again! When Jesus says our life is not our own anymore, I don’t believe we grasp the weight of that word! The same spirit of murder that is exposed in this passage in Genesis 4:1-16 is happening now. Abel and Cain brought their offering to God, but one was accepted, and the other God did not accept! Both left them, but one was received! Everybody is either a child of God or of the devil.
Our offering is our lives! It is all about the heart! Now, we go way beyond an offering. It is not about what we give, but the spirit of obedience when we give. It is not about the number, amount, or percentage! It is all about our heart posture and about, “Is my heart clean? Or am I jealous? Or rebellious? Or coveting? Am I loving my brother? Am I loving people? Am I religious or righteous? Are my ways pleasing unto God?”
Even Jesus said, “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift (Matthew 5:23-24). You need to go first and get your heart right, then you come back to God, or your gift/offering won’t be acceptable, just as He did not receive Cain’s. This is what Cain did not do.
My life is no longer my own! I have a choice. I have a lot of choices: the cross or keeping my own life. Have you counted the cost? You have heard it all; now you need to obey it all! It is not going to be easy, but it is going to be worth it! God had no respect towards Cain’s offering (verse 5). Instead of Cain going to God and asking God, “Why not? Show me what I can do better next time. Let me watch my brother because his offering was accepted.” But right away he got jealous of his brother. Whatever the Word tells us not to do towards our brother, Cain did it. It is not about his offering, it is about his character, his hidden iniquities. God asked him, “Why are you angry?” (verse 6). If you do well, you will be accepted. If you don’t, satan will be at your door (verse 7). Abel had no problem with Cain and did not know what was going on in his heart towards him. God sees and knows everything.
Could you imagine what Cain told him? Could you imagine the accusations? Could you imagine the questions? “You are so lazy, Abel; look at my nails, my fingers, look at the blood, and you just do an easy job. You just smell like crap.”…Self-righteous…No repentance! God must be wrong; God does not see right; God made a mistake; God is a liar…I am well, I have already checked my heart. I am doing well.” All self-righteousness. Nothing happens overnight…little by little, he started being a partaker of darkness! Both were born out of the same womb! If there was a generational curse, both would have gotten them, but one made the right decision. The murder was not just what happened. It was not an accident, but it was planned! Cain took time to be premeditated! Cain was angry at God. He wanted to be accepted; this was between God and Cain, and Abel was just in the way! That is what happens in the church with jealousy. It is divisive and turns into murder if we don’t deal with it!
The spirit of murder will take it out on you; but remember, you are not the problem! You are just in the way, just like Abel. Joseph was just in the way of his brother, just like Jesus was in the way of Judas. Abel became the victim of Cain’s anger and hate! The brothers of Joseph could not even forgive themselves. We need to be Abel! Abel to repent! Abel to forgive! Cain …I can’t you say! You must be Abel to love, Abel to see, Abel to hear, Abel to forgive. On and on. But because of your lack of faith, you say, “I Cain” (I can’t). Abel was doing well in God’s eyes. Even Joseph’s brothers were mad at their father for favoring and honoring Joseph. (We know it’s spelled “able:” Let’s use this wordplay!)
They really wanted to be the ones that were getting all the attention, and they took it out on Joseph. But they were mad at their father and did not even realize it.
“Where is your brother Joseph? Where is your brother Abel? Where is your brother? …God is asking you…Cain lied directly to God, trying to cover himself. If you start lying to God, you are in real trouble. Because you are already lying to your own self! “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (verse 9). “Now you can’t pay attention to my brother; now it is all about me. This is the heart of Cain. If you can’t even look your brother in the eye, how can you see God?
You may not hear your brother anymore, but I hear his cry; I hear his heart; I still see Him” (verse 10). God cursed the ground. Cain became unfruitful (verse 12). Satan is always trying to stop our reproduction. He does not want us to be fruitful. He wants to put us in a place where God himself will judge us just like he did Cain for his wicked heart. “And Cain said unto the Lord, my punishment is greater than I can bear” (verse 13). Even if satan tries to bring one brother against another, this won’t happen among His people.
God marked Cain (verse 15), and just like in the book of Revelation, satan marks his people. Paul told us to mark them who walked disorderly, so we won’t follow the example! “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden” (verse 16). Cain was in the presence of God, and when we come out of the presence of God, when we start disobeying and rebelling, this is what happens. If you rebel against God and His Word, it is not about you and your brother, but about you and God! Cain could not turn back. He could never get out of it, but today, we all can! Because there is grace! Many people in the body of Christ are still living in the land of Nod! We can’t play with this! People think they can deceive God. This is deception. The dictionary gives the following definition of Nod, saying that it means: "exile; wandering; unrest, a name given to the country to which Cain fled.” It is a desert, a dry place, a parched spiritual land. I have seen people walking and living in the land of Nod, being totally possessed and becoming insane. This is what happened to Cain. This is what happened to Saul. This happens to anybody who plays with the Word of God! This is nothing! We must have the fear of the Lord! If you are playing with God, God will not play with you! The false church will say, “This is works.” Well, rebellion is work. But obedience is work, called works of righteousness. There is no faith without works of his heart.
Let’s look at the story of Elijah. Remember, it had not rained for 3 years (James 5:17-18, 1 King 17). He will use everything you lack to turn into a miracle! It is the one thing God will use to build the altar in your life! We must be a living sacrifice! 4 water pots were done 3 times. That’s 3x4 is 12; remember, 12 baskets of fragments were left over after the miracle! Remember, Elijah used 12 stones! 444 fires!
They also filled the trench with water so the fire could quench the water (1 King 18)! Remember, water was a rare commodity! Do you know how valuable water was at that time? That was a real sacrifice! The one thing that you need and desire, that thing that you are lacking, God will use to build your altar! Once you lay there, He will give you it all back! Whatever is getting in the way, God will burn it. Once the altar is built, the fire comes! It’s just like God to use the one thing that you are in need of; the thing that you lack will be the very thing He uses in your life to build your altar.
Meditate on 1 John 4:16-21. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. When you are not living right, fear is present! Cain was not confident! Cain thought Abel was the problem. If I remove Abel, I will get the blessing. If I remove Joseph, I will get the blessing. Even with Jacob, “If I replace my brother; if I can trick my father for the blessing; if I can remove what I see that is in the way…” But God says, “Remove the iniquity in your heart, and you will be blessed.” Judas thought, “If I remove Jesus, I will get the blessings.” “We love him because he first loved us” (verse 19). We don’t love Jesus because he blesses us, but because He first loved us! “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (verses 20-21). Everybody says I love God, but the proof of your love toward God is if you love your brother! It is not me saying this; it is God Himself telling us what the proof of our love towards Him is!
God is saying, “Where are you?” “Where have you gone?” Let God show you something. Don’t hide from Him, and don’t hide behind your brother, blaming him and blaming this and that, even blaming God. God is saying, “You have My blood, you have My power, now use it.” No more torment like Saul, Judas, and Cain felt! Bring it all to the throne of grace, under My blood. No man is fit for the Kingdom of God if we look back! God, you are activating our faith, faith to believe, faith to make the right choices, faith to reproduce, faith to obey, faith to commit to Your Word and to the Spirit of wisdom and revelation! I thank you, God, because you used my mouth! Thank you, Father, for the fire that filled my mouth.
Father, I rip my own heart because I want to love Jesus. Father, you never let me down. Everything you said, you have done it. It is me who told you that I would do it and never did. I told you that I would do it, and I started and decided not to finish. I am responsible for my own choices, choices that have separated me from You and me from the Body. Father, you are right here. I do want to be the full manifestation of John 17. So let it be, God!
Amen!
Shane W Roessiger
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