^“Love obligates me to preach to everyone, to those who are among the elite and those who are among the outcasts, to those who are wise and educated as well as to those who are foolish and unlearned.” Romans 1:14

Hello Partners and Prayer Warriors,

In the June/July newsletter I described to you a dream that I had where an out of place curtain rod represented things that do not fit in my life anymore. This is where we will pick up and move forward in this month’s newsletter.

Since the dream, I have kept hearing “what things do not fit anymore?”  As I pondered this thought over and over in my mind, The Holy Spirit said to me “the things that do not fit anymore are the things we tolerate”.

 I began asking the Lord “what is it that I tolerate?” and He gave me four examples:

 We have brothers and sisters in the Lord who are full of gossip and we tolerate that because we love them and don’t want to hurt their feelings. We have brothers and sisters in the Lord who, by all appearances, have ought against us but will never address the issue, but yet it comes up in every social setting. Since we don’t know what the root is we tolerate it because we love them and try to move forward. We have brothers and sisters in the Lord who carry with them strife and dissention but because we know them so well and we love them, we tolerate it by overlooking the spirit that is really causing the issues. The last example is this: We have brothers and sisters in the Lord that are narcissistic and because that is just too hard to get our arms and head wrapped around, we justify them and say “that’s just who they are” and we tolerate it.   This list is long and can go way longer but I think you are beginning to get the idea and form your own pictures of what you yourselves tolerate. Now before you start passing an unrighteous judgment against us because you think we are passing unrighteous judgment on these spiritual siblings, let me tell you that these brothers and sisters in Christ are Doug and myself.  They are us! ALL OF US!  We are humans – God’s children and all too often it is so much easier to tolerate the behavior out of what we think is love and let it go, but in reality we are pacifying demons. We need to look beyond the person in order to see who is driving what we tolerate. For some it could be that the enemy is using a person to promote a spirit of the fear of rejection in another. So we get angry at the person but really we are mad at the enemy who set it up! There is not one person on the planet who does not deal with the spirit of the fear of rejection. The spirit of the fear of rejection is a hidden gateway for which many other spirits operate.

Here is another take: The things we don’t like in or about others are often the very things we don’t like and yet tolerate in ourselves.  (The things that do not fit in our lives anymore are the things we tolerate!)

Over the years, we have been every example listed above and we thank the Lord for His goodness in growing us and maturing us continually.  Are we perfect now? Hardly, but we do an inner reflection of sorts, a self-check, before calling things out in others. We have learned that our problems and issues have nothing to do with the horizontal plane of relationship with others, but it is, in fact, a spiritual battle because we must refuse to tolerate things like a spirit of the fear of rejection, gossip, strife, dissention and the drama that comes with it. These are the things that don’t fit and are an open door for more demonic activity to work in our lives.

EVERYTHING in this life is spirit.  We are a spirit who lives in a body, and in a tangible world, and we operate out of a soul, side by side with free will. Scripture says we live and move and have our being in the spirit, by His Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus.  So, what am I saying?  I am saying that we must give grace to each other in our horizontal relationships and fellow man but not allow ourselves to tolerate or pacify evil in the process. I’m saying that we all need to ask the Lord, “What am I tolerating?” because it doesn’t fit; it doesn’t belong anymore. I’m saying that we need to look beyond our humans to see who or what is driving their behavior and what we tolerate in the name of love and cover our humans in grace and the love of God and take the spiritual trash, of the evil we pacify, to the dumpster. I am saying, “Lord, in the name of Jesus, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me. Set guard over my mouth and keep watch over the door of my lips. Open my spiritual eyes and ears. Let me see from a heaven to earth perspective and teach me how to live, move and have my being in the spirit!” I am saying, Lord teach us and help us to take out our own trash so that we can be a Church Bride of Unity without spot or blemish.  I am saying, Lord rescue us from our own inner demons that spill out onto others and fill us with your Holy Spirit to overflowing abundance moment by moment as we continue to live life in this fallen world. I am saying: Thank you Lord for covering us and protecting us under the shadow of your wing as we, together, work this out in You, by You and for Your Kingdom.

 Father, in the name of Jesus, help us to love each other enough to love each other through our trials and tribulations. To withstand the wiles of the enemy and stay continually thankful that regardless of a man’s plan, it is You who directs our every step. Father, lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil of our own heart.  Amen.

Partners and Prayer Warriors,

We know that this letter is a heavy one indeed but it is also a good glimpse of what the Lord walks us through, as vessels, during a counseling session.  As we sit down to counsel with an individual, it is our intent to meet them right where they are and to prepare our hearts to be a vessel God can use to meet their needs. To fill them with the love of God and wash them with the Word, to give them hope and let the light of God’s Presence fill them with Kingdom principals to equip them and separate them from their hurt in order to receive their healing. To teach them from a Kingdom Holy Spirit perspective, the things of the Spirit, even though they, and we, live right here on planet earth.

There are so many hurting individuals who come to us for counseling and we get to do this because of your generosity. We say thank you for your financial partnership and for your prayers. Thank you for being watchers on the wall for us and for believing in us. You are amazing people and we love you beyond measure. Thank you for all that you do for us and please always keep in mind that we pray for you too!

LPE Ministries is a 501(c) 3 Charitable Organization.  All donations are tax deductible as allowed by law.