Month: March 2023

by Pastor Roy Esposito

Micah 6:8 _(AMP) –” He has told you. O man. What is good, and what does the Lord require of you, except to be just and to love [ and diligently practice] kindness and compassion, and to walk humbly with your God [ setting aside any overblown sense of importance or self-righteousness]?

Humility will lead us to the  Honesty we need to be able to “commit our works to the Lord ” and have our thoughts established by Him. (Proverbs 16:3)

Last week: Our thoughts frame the reality we operate in.

Proverbs 23:7 –” For as a man thinks in his HEART, so is he.”

The Heart – is the “central command hub” through which God communicates with us.

Jeremiah 17:9 – Says that the human heart is deceitful above ALL things and desperately wicked. (Even the devil?)

If our hearts are unhealed, all of our works will be tainted and essentially dishonest.

Unhealed hearts have a distracted focus on God and a distorted view of the reality of His love for us.

A distorted view of God’s love for us will cause us to seek OTHER things to fill the void of the disconnect we feel with God.

Psychological terms: Attachments     Spiritual / Religious terms: IDOLS.

God’s solution:  Ezekiel 36:26 and Jeremiah 31:33 – Promise to give those who seek Him – “New Hearts.”

Hebrews 10b-11 _(TPT) – “…I will embed my laws within their thoughts and fasten them to their hearts. I will be their loyal God, and they will be my loyal people.

There will be no need to teach their fellow citizens or brothers by saying ‘You should know the Lord’ since everyone will know Me INWARDLY….”

God is FOR us, church!  He’s ALL IN and fully committed to us.

Our part: Is simply not to run away from Him!

Many run away from God through False Pride – an “I can do it on my own.”

Pride, in this sense, is not just boasting.

Pride creates an illusionary life: a False Self behind which we can hide: from others, ourselves, and ultimately from God.

We become afraid of God because, down deep, we know God as “The Truth.”

Our spirit knows this, and our consciousness confirms it to our soul, causing it to be unable to rest and be at peace. We doubt God’s love for us and His commitment to us.

Humility – puts an end to all this.   

Follow this Flow Chart:

Humility >> Honesty >> Truth >> Self-discovery >> Healing >> Liberty >>
Ability to Liberate Others.

Walking in Truth sets us free to create a Safe Space for others to discover themselves in God without fearing guilt or accusation.

This becomes the ultimate expression of the Hospitality we can offer to those walking the spiritual path.

But first, we must come to our Humility – the “Get over yourself” exercise.

Colossians 3:2 _(NLT) “Let heaven fill your thoughts.”

Philippians 4:8 “Fix your thoughts on things that are true, honorable, and right.”

TPT – Authentic, real, honorable, admirable, beautiful, respectful, pure, holy, merciful, and kind.

God is FOR us – it’s true.  But it’s through our expression of humility that we allow Him to be so!

Humility allows His power to become magnified in our lives by agreeing with Him on the present state and condition of our being.

When we can concede that we are angry, selfish, lustful, or deceitful – God can respond on our behalf and grant us the grace to overcome whatever obstacle we face and get free of its influence.

Isaiah 57:18-19 _(Message) – “When I looked and saw what they were doing, I decided to heal them, and lead them, and comfort them, creating a new language of Praise for mourning, Peace for the far-off, Peace to the near at hand, says the Lord! Yes, I will heal them.”

The healing spoken of here is not just physical or even emotional; It also heals an infected soul of “sin-sickness.”

Humility – allows us to acknowledge our needs and allows those needs to become the “voice of our prayers.”

Our prayers then are transformed from mere petitions for help to  “communications of truth” – and open to God.

They go from being “head prayers” to “heart prayers” based on TRUTH.

Our Heart Prayers become the “voice of our dependency.”

It’s the place where we not only bring our needs to God but we leave them there with Him, transferring them to Him.

Strong-willed, independent people never pray this way, but humble people do because they’ve come to realize that willpower will never be enough to fill the void they feel.

So, why don’t people pray from a humble heart more often? 

Many haven’t yet learned to really trust God and remain suspicious and afraid of Him.

FEAR of losing control over the conditions and circumstances of their life and of the lives of their loved ones.

The Prayer of Fear can do little to alter anything in our lives and will most likely keep us bound to the conditions we’re most afraid of.

The Prayer of Faith, though, is a powerful thing.

It takes just a tiny smidge of it to change stuff dramatically. (Mustard Seed)

Faith (Trust in God) is powerful in that it is the means through which we can appropriate Grace.

The Good News is: – Faith is the by-product of Humility.

                              – Fear is always displaced by it!

We can now read the scriptures with fresh, faith-filled eyesight: 

2 Chronicles 7:14 – “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray – I will hear from heaven and HEAL them.” 

Now, we no longer pray from FEAR but from PROMISE as our prayers become an expression of our growing trust in God.

These are called “The Prayers of the Restful” or Hesychastic Prayers

Our circumstances don’t necessarily change –the world is still a dangerous and threatening place – but. 

The prayer empowered by faith transforms the world by transforming the heart of the one offering the prayer.

A transformed heart transforms our thinking, and we become the result of our new thought patterns. (“As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” – Proverbs 23:7)

The key seems to be trusting God more with our lives.

This can seem risky because little in our “normal” life supports it.

To trust God is counterintuitive to the natural mind, which tells us:

1. “Bad things happen to good and innocent people.”
2. “Whoever collects the most ‘toys’ before they die wins.”

Sentiments like these communicate several messages:

              If you put yourself in God’s hands, you are:

1. Superstitious
2. Ignorant
3. Irresponsible
4. Maybe a bit psychotic.

(And these are just the theologians speaking!)

But today, I believe God is calling to those who are seeking more,

 “Rise Up! Ascend into this realm; I want to show you things to come.” –  Revelation 4:1

But we can Rise Up only through letting go of that which tethers us to this realm and restricts the depth of our understanding to what we already know.

If you desire to answer His call –  Stay humble and honestly try to take an inventory of your current state of being.  He has promised those who will, A New Heart that will be close to His.

by Pastor Roy Esposito

John 3:3 – Jesus told Nicodemus, “…unless one is BORN AGAIN, he will not see the Kingdom of God.” (TPT) – “Before a person can PERCEIVE God’s kingdom realm, they must first experience a REBIRTH.”

Before a person can experience a rebirth, they must desire it and be willing to follow the Spirit’s leading.

John 3:5 – “…unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”

John 16:13-15 (TPT)

1. He unveils the reality of every perception within us and enables us to see the Truth clearly beyond the cloak of our fallen nature.  
2. He speaks prophetically of the things that are to come.
3. He glorifies Jesus and reveals a brand new potential for our lives.

Needless to say, the Holy Spirit plays a huge part in our transcendence.

Wade Taylor – When one is BORN of the Spirit –  they can be BORNE (Carried) by the Spirit into a higher realm.

Wade’s teachings focused on what he called “Becoming the Habitation of God” or the “Incarnation” (God in Flesh) – the Church carrying the Presence of God on the earth.

This requires being present to ourselves  – right here, right now. (To “be where your feet are.”) – BECAUSE you can’t carry HIS PRESENCE without being present yourself. 

Being Present speaks of being able to receive and give – right now – with nothing to understand or think about  – to just DO IT.

This doesn’t take place in the mind but within the innermost parts of our being – Spirit to Spirit

The only part our minds play is positioning ourselves to receive guidance from the Spirit.

Positioning – “Doing the inner work.” 

1. “Who am I?
2. “What have I been focused on that brought me to where I am now?  (How I think and my perception of the reality I live and operate in.)

Philosopher Rene Descartes – “I think, therefore I am.”

Proverbs 23:7 – Scripture seems to say something similar, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Descartes – “Because I can think, therefore I exist.”

Bible – “What I’m thinking about has influence and even forms what and who I am – and how I exist.”

Proverbs 16:3 speaks of how to be BORNE by the Spirit: 

         “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” 

TPT – “Before you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.”

PR translation – Commit your HEART to the Lord; put your attention on HIM and trust Him. Then He will guide the thoughts that are forming who you are.”

I believe what we give our attention to will direct and form our reality.

We are instructed to  “Set our minds on things above and not on earthly things.” – Colossians 3:2

Now here’s the problem we all face as we try to follow through on this:

 We  possess two separate natures; Animal and Spiritual (Old/New Man)

Because this is so, our ability to keep our attention on God gets untracked by the distractions and distortions of our animal nature.

I call this a “Distraction of Attention” – a type of spiritual ADHD. 

    Even the most spiritual person among us suffers from its effects.

Every time our attention shifts to our natural desires, our attention on God takes a blow.

With it, our ability to live in the grace and benefits of God’s love takes a hit also.

This is because Attention and Love are intimately related.

In church, we speak a lot about Love. 1 John 4:8: “God Is Love.” 

 But, if love is to be transformed from mere Conceptualization to Actualization, our attention must be focused on it – free from the effects of distractions, distortions, and conditions generated by our animal nature.

In Truth – Our lives are full of distractions that cause love not to be actualized.

However, we were created with a deep need for God, who is Love.

Because of the distractions and distortions of our lower nature, though, when a circumstance arises where God’s love is needed, we don’t perceive His Presence  – He seems absent and unable or unwilling to help us.

When the “love void” goes unfilled, our tendency is to grab onto something else to satisfy the need.

We have an unfulfilled desire for God but end up with a substitution instead.

Let’s call whatever this substitution is an “attachment.”

It usurps God’s love and receives our attention – ultimately becoming more important than God to us at that moment.

It’s easy to recognize the obvious attachments: EX – A “Fix” for an addict

But how about something less obvious?

How about when you are standing in line at the store, and there’s an older person in front of you fumbling with their change  – or a mom with some unruly kids making a racket –and all you want to do is get home?

Then you become so impatient that getting through the line quickly becomes the most important thing to you – so much so that it usurps any thought of compassion or love you might otherwise have had.

You’ve ATTACHED primary importance to getting past the object of annoyance so that you’ve become what’s in your heart at that moment — an impatient, annoyed, and uncaring person. 

If we take an honest look at things, we’d have to concede that most of the pain in the world is not caused by the devil or is sent by God to test us but from – What we say and do to each other!

Scenes like this happen so often that we begin to see them as NORMAL and accept them as part of life.  But they are truly not benign.

Paul Tillich – “Whatever we are ultimately concerned with IS GOD for us.”

This can include anything and everything that takes our attention off God, even things that may be considered GOOD.

It’s not the things in themselves but the importance we give to them that matters.

Anything that replaces God as the focus of our heart can become a “distortion of attention” or, in religious terminology – “IDOLATRY.”

You may be thinking, “Pastor Roy is being overly dramatic – even harsh – sure, I get distracted now and again – everybody does, but I love God and live my life for Him.”

This is where honesty comes into play – because this is a lie we tell ourselves – just look objectively at your actions.

How many of our actions are really purely motivated?

We claim to love God, but, in truth, we are living our distractions.

Don’t get mad.  This is a universal problem of our old nature.

We are mostly more concerned with our attachments than we are with love.

Paul recognized this tendency in himself – 

    Romans 7:18-20 (TPT)   “For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but willpower is not enough to accomplish it.

   “My lofty desire to do what is good is dashed when I do the things I want to avoid.

   So, if my behavior contradicts my desire to do good, I must conclude that it’s not my true identity doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin hindering me from being who I truly am.”

I’m not pointing this out with the hammer of guilt. It does no good to feel guilty.

If anything, guilt makes us more preoccupied with ourselves.

Romans 8:1 – “There is, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Even though all I said today is true, we are not condemned by it because we are IN CHRIST and covered by His sacrificial death and resurrection. 

When we realize that we need God and ask to become Born Again, we are freed from the destiny and the consequences of our fallen 

humanity. 

We are carried (BORNE) through the regeneration process by the “Life-giving Spirit” of God.

God does call us to do our best – to be excellent in how we live – and to embrace the struggle in faith, staying focused on Him.

Ultimately, we must accept the reality of our incompleteness:

Another way of saying this is having HUMILITY.

Until you embrace humility, your natural mind and nature will sit as a god in the temple of your thought life, keeping you a slave to its unending demands and insufficiencies.

To be Borne by the Spirit will require taking a hard look at the condition of our Honesty and Humility – and asking for the Spirit’s help!

A prophetic action:  Go to the mirror and emphatically say, “Get over yourself!”   Then proceed with your day guided by The Spirit of God.