Getting To Know Jesus

I would like to ask you a simple question. How well do you know Jesus? The Apostle Paul, who met Jesus on the way to Damascus and was already functioning as an apostle, had this to say when writing to the church at Philippi

Philippians 3:10 That I may [come to] know him [intimately], and the [dynamic] power of his resurrection, and the joint participation in his sufferings, experiencing a similar pattern to his death; [GBMV]

You would think Paul already knew all he needed to know about Jesus. Yet he was still reaching out for a greater revelation and intimacy with Him. Most of us will quickly agree with Paul on the first parts of that verse.

Yes, I would love to know Him more intimately, yes, I would love to experience more of His power. But the last part - well, that is not for us anymore, is it? The participation in His sufferings? Follow the same pattern as His death?

No, we want the easy road. I just pray and ask Him for a revelation, and He reveals Himself to me. Let me give you what Paul said before verse 10

Philippians 3:7 But the things that were assets to me, those I counted losses for Christ.

Paul was a very accomplished man and he had a lot of assets. Trained at the highest level by the best scholar of that time, He was a member of the Jewish, high council and had a great reputation

But now he had to let that all go - just give it up. He was to consider his high qualifications, degrees, and knowledge as junk. His great achievements in this life were worthless.

I have often in the past made this statement and it still holds true:

Show me a person who truly knows the Lord and I will show you someone who has suffered in life

There is no shortcut to getting to know Him intimately. There will always be a price to pay. And if you are not prepared to pay that price, you will never come into that intimate relationship with Him. No wonder Paul said that he would boast about his weaknesses and failures.

Perhaps you are in a place now where you are crying out for more. More of the presence of Jesus, more of His power. You were foolish enough to cry out to the Lord and say, “Lord give me more, no matter what it costs.”

Then you waited for it to fall down on you from heaven. But instead, all hell was let loose in your life. You faced opposition and challenges worse than anything you have ever known. And you probably thought, “Lord, I asked for more good things, not trouble.”

Well, there is a road that is set before you which will lead you to your destination. But right in the middle of that road lies a huge cross.

Our Recent Experience Here In HQ

I want to share with you some of what we have been going through here at HQ recently to show you that this is the way it will always be. We have set our sights on building this ministry in the days that lie ahead. To bring it back to its first glory and beyond.

Just the three of us - Daphne, John, and Me have stood together and reached out to the Lord for more. I felt that the task is becoming too great for me as I grow older.

I no longer have the youth and energy to do what I could do before. And those in whom I had placed my hope to take over from me have all deserted me to go and build their own kingdoms.

After going through training as Moses, Joshua, David, and Solomon, the Lord said that He was making me into an Abraham. But I had no one to be my heir. John was in his own little world, very artsy and good in his own realm, but I could not see him taking over from me.

So, I placed my hope in someone else. But way back already the Lord gave me a clear word. He told me that this other person would not be my heir, but that John would, in fact, become my Isaac.

But John was always pushed to the background while others took the prominence until the Lord had removed all of them from us to go on their own paths.

And then, just two months ago, John began to face some real struggles with his health. I earnestly desired to move more into the external anointing and the healing ministry. So, my wife and son were the guinea pigs I had to practice on.

Placing John As Apostle

While praying with John one night, the Lord spoke to me and told me something I was not expecting. He said that John was now ready to be placed as an apostle.

Well, John was as surprised as me, and when I placed him, I knew that this was the first step towards him beginning to move into a place under me that would lead to him taking over.

That was great; we were excited and looked forward to a new move of the anointing. And I began to reach out to the Lord for some new mantles for ministry, especially in the supernatural.

The Lord answered by giving me what I asked for, and I knew that I was ready to move into a new ministry in the supernatural and to start training John to take his place.

But instead of everything falling nicely into place, suddenly, everything went wrong. We began to face challenges in all the main areas of life - health, wealth, and relationships.

John came down with a physical attack that left him in discomfort and pain continually. And as much as he wanted to move forward spiritually, he was using all his spiritual resources to overcome this. There was a continual pain in his jaw and side of his head that would not go away.

Well, this was a chance for me to rise up and learn how to flow in healing. I had a real, live case to practice on, so I began to pray for him. The anointing was powerful, and he and I could feel it. But the symptoms continued.

Inner Healing For John

In the meantime, John began to face many psychological hang-ups as a result of this. And the Lord began to reveal things from his past that had left hurts and scars.

If he had not been suffering physically, these things would never have surfaced. But now they showed up, and we could deal with them, one at a time. And each experience of healing was very significant.

Eventually, we had no choice but to go to the medical systems of this world. And after seeing two doctors and two dentists, we still were none the wiser about what was causing his problem.

This, in turn, brought up more past experiences of rejection, failed hopes, and other things that had left an imprint on John. Each time, the Lord gave a revelation, and usually, I had a prophetic word for him concerning what God was doing.

Nothing Seemed To Work

But we were both beginning to get frustrated and I wondered if it was all my imagination that I was anointed. John became desperate to get rid of this daily suffering which had gone on for months now. It seemed that all the principles I taught worked for everyone else, but not for me.

I cried out to the Lord to show me what was happening. The first thing He showed me was that I had moved away from my relationship with Him as the Comforter. I so desperately needed His love and assurance, and this had an effect on my spiritual life.

So, I returned to that loving relationship with Jesus as my friend and lover. And now, I thought I could try a different approach to ministering. I would do as I have taught, where you walk along with Jesus and minister together.

So, I prayed for John’s healing again, this time taking Jesus with me as the Comforter. I expected that He would rise up, lay His hands on John, and heal him when I prayed.

But this time, when I prayed, there was no external anointing at all, and instead of Jesus touching John for healing, He did something totally different. I saw Him standing before John and reaching out his hands to take John’s.

John also saw Him and reached out to Him, and the Lord did a wonderful inner healing in John. But there was still no physical healing. I told John that if it were not for this problem, he would never have been set free from all of those hangups in his life.

He agreed but cried out for deliverance. We had now come to a place where the Lord had used this to address things in both John and me. We felt convinced that this was probably related to John’s dental condition, so we returned to a dentist.

At Last We Found The Source

We could not get an appointment with our own dentist for a few weeks, so we had to go to a walk-in dentist who charged a lot more. And she was not as experienced as our regular dentist.

She tried refilling a tooth near the pressure he felt in his face, but that did nothing. Then she gave him a letter to go see a specialist who would take a full X-ray and perhaps show what was going on.

(One of the doctors he had seen was convinced that it was all in his mind and wanted to treat him psychologically.)

John had his hopes high the day we went to the specialist. He expected that finally, the problem would be solved. Well, this guy certainly knew more, but he wanted to send him for expensive MRI scans, which we could not afford.

However, he did point out that John had some impacted molars, which could be causing the problem. We Googled it, and the symptoms matched exactly what John was going through.

Fortunately, John had made an appointment with our regular dentist, and it was finally due today. But last night, we prayed together again, and the Lord told me to do something different this time.

Giving A Full Impartation

He said that I must impart everything that He had given me to John: all my mantles, power, and authority so that he would have all the resources he needed to overcome.

So when we prayed last night, I took John’s hand and began imparting what I had. I have done impartations many times, but this was something more powerful than before. There was such a powerful anointing that we both felt and when it was over, I felt the Lord saying,

“This is the final culmination of what needed to take place.”

I put my crown and robes on John, and the Lord reminded me that not long ago, He told me John would also become my Solomon. I had set up the training schools, which we called the Cave of Adullam, for apostles. Now, it was time for David to stand back and let Solomon begin to arise.

Then, the Lord also gave me a revelation from Abraham and Isaac. When I studied the business apostles, I found that Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Solomon were all types. But poor Isaac, he really did not seem to accomplish anything significant.

In fact, the only thing Isaac ever seemed to accomplish was to redig the wells that Abraham had built. In other words, Isaac revived what Abraham had begun. So the Lord said,

“You are too old and weak now to revive GBM and bring it to a new level.”

But He said,

“I have given you an Isaac who will redig the wells and revive what you started and take it to a new level.”

Today, finally, our dentist could, with some difficulty, remove one of the teeth that was impacted and probably causing all of his problems. And though he will be in pain for a few days because of removing such a large tooth, John is already beginning to feel better.

I realized that the Lord had anointed me for healing, and the healing power we felt was real. But what was needed here was more than healing. To fix his teeth would have required a miracle from God, and I am not ready yet to flow in miracles.

The Final Result

So, after several months of severe trials and testing, we have all come out of this better. I believe that John will begin to take more and more of an active role in GBM. I will move more into the background and catch up with things I want to do, like finishing the GBM Translation of the Bible.

I will continue to be the covering, but John will rise up as Principal of the schools and take a bigger role in public ministry. Soon, you will see him in the new dynamic power that God has accomplished these past few months. And together we will take GBM to a new place.

So, to get back to the Scripture, we started with. Like Paul, I have been on the road for some time and have risen to where I can teach others the principles. Yet I, too, had to go through a difficult time to come to a newer, higher level in my relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Now, I am beginning to be bold in saying, I am getting to know Him intimately in a brand new way. And I am learning to walk in the power of His resurrection. But we can never boast about our achievements.

And if I begin to think that I have arrived or accomplished any of these things, the cross is just down the road. Never forget this in your quest to move into that place. I hope you were inspired by our story and that you will continue to stand with us as we push forward to fulfill the mandates God has given us.

Expect a lot more different stuff from Daph and me soon, and expect John to do more preaching and higher-level stuff.

Love you guys, and thank you for your continued support. For those who are interested, I preached a message based on this passage we looked at tonight, and it is up in our new YouTube section on GBM Books.

So you can go and watch or listen to it for a full teaching on the subject, and I am working on editing the transcript to make it flow better. The message is entitled Getting to Know Jesus, and you can find it here:

https://gbmbooks.gbmi.co.za/read-chapters/?Title=YouTube%20Videos&Chapter=24

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