- “Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist”
Peg led group in worship…
Jeannie shared…
For the past three weeks, I’ve been dealing with fake symptoms in my body. Just a quick little tip for any of you out there that are struggling with fake symptoms, and if you just can’t get in the Word, just because, you know, fake symptoms… I started watching healing testimonies. Huge difference. It’s like watching a movie about God’s goodness in real time. I love His grace and mercy. He’s not a hard task master. I mean, after days, just wanting to get the Word in me, Holy Spirit said, “Why don’t you just watch healing testimonies?” Great idea!
So Holy Spirit, we thank you for who you are. You live in us. You’re for us. You’re brilliant. You have every answer to every problem, and you have every answer to things that need a solution. Just so that your plan and your will is being carried out.
I’m going to start by reading this book from Erwin McManus. It’s called “The Genius of Jesus.” He’s talking about a study that was done regarding genius. And I actually am kind of playing off of a message from Bill Johnson: When in War, Create.”. And he talks about that there’s a scripture in Zachariah. They were at war. And what did they do? They brought in a bunch of creative people. I don’t know that that seems counterintuitive, but the God that we know puts the praisers in front in the middle of a battle.
So what if the God that we know… Okay, we know the answer to this question, but I’m trying to engage you. What if the God that we know truly does have all the answers and what if the God that we know is the God that’s in you and that you have the answers? Because that is truly what’s going on.
So in this book, he’s referring to another book called “Break Point and Beyond,” and I did just get that book as well. “In their work “Break Point and Beyond,” published in 1993, by George T. Ainsworth-Land and Beth Jarman, detail their work with NASA and later with the Head Start program. In 1968, they had conducted a study to test the creativity and arguably the genius of 1,600 children, three to five years old, all of whom were enrolled in Head Start. They retested the same children at 10 years of age. And again at 15. The results are telling, if not an indictment of our modern educational system. The proportion of people who scored at the genius level was among five-year-olds 98%. Among 10-year-olds, 30%. They studied the same children. So they were at a 98% genius level when they were five and they were at a 30% genius level when they were 10.
It grieves my heart and it gives me hope because of how I’m going to put a bow on this.
“Among 15-year-olds, 12% and among adults, 280,000 of them with an average age of 31, 2%. What have we concluded is that that non-creative behavior is learned. It may be argued that genius is clearly intrinsic and that the rarity of genius is learned behavior. I would go so far as to say that there’s genius within us all. The question that demands to be answered is “Where did it go? And what would you be willing to do to reawaken the genius within you?”
“I’ve interviewed countless people and taken hundreds of informal surveys while speaking to audiences around the world. And when I ask a room, ‘How many of you would describe yourselves as creative geniuses?’ The number of people who answer formatively is usually less than 1%. 99% of the room considered themselves uncreative. And at best wish they were creative. Like those they admire. The same is true in other areas of our lives. You had to be taught to color inside the lines. You had to be taught to think inside the box. You had to be taught that the right answers are what make you right. Your natural instinct was to think outside the box. By design, you were a divergent thinker. We had to educate the creativity out of you. Before you were 12, you were a prodigy. I’m not sure who you are now, but I know the potential you were created with.”
This gives me massive hope. Why? Because the study is completely Bible. It brings even more to light why God says we entered the kingdom as children. We bring the kingdom as children. I looked further at the study in Break Point book and they were talking about how the three- to five-year-olds said “yes” most of the time. They believed what you said, no matter how ridiculous, pretty much all the time. And here all along, it’s been in the Word. All along, the answer has been there. We become children. We’re taught. It’s just not safe. It’s not right to be childlike. You know, religion absolutely will just like squeeze the child likeness out of you.
In Luke 18, “Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for such is the kingdom of God.” That was Jesus talking to religion saying, “Let the little children come to Me.” He stood up for that. And in them was the kingdom of God. The genius in you is your child likeness, crying Abba Father. And even now if there’s resistance to this truth, that’s okay because your Father knows how to get to you.
We’re made to be the geniuses here right now in this. We are! And I will tell you that time is upon us. Romans 8:15, “For the spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, the spirit producing sun ship in the bliss of which we cry, Abba Father.”
Another study that they did was they found that people that were on their death bed, their greatest regret was that they made choices and life decisions based on people’s opinions of them. Let’s read that again. “For the spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, the spirit producing sonship in the bliss of which we cry Abba Father. And it’s not too late. In fact, it’s right on time. For the spirit which you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to other people’s opinions. It’s not the spirit of slavery to what this person thinks you should do. But the spirit of adoption cries out blissfully, happily, fully safe, fully alive, fully creative, willing to believe. Wow, that’s a God idea! I’m going to do what God tells me to do! I’m a part of the answer. In fact, the answer of the entire world, the entire universe is alive in me. And I’m still three- to five-years old.
He’s telling you, you are a child of God. Like Jesse Duplantis says there are no grandchildren. It’s the intimacy of adoption. We had a friend who’s like this Bible scholar-ish kind of person. Just a little bit religious. But, we actually placed him through our business. And, he was talking about how back during Jesus’ time, children that were adopted were considered in higher regard because they were chosen. He chose you. He chose you and that bondage, that slavery to other people’s opinion, I’m just going to hammer at that right now, because that’s what I’m going to hammer out. Other people’s opinion. You’ve been freed from that by the spirit of adoption, that cries Abba Father.
But here’s the deal. The Word also says… I think this study is hilarious because it’s got Bible written all over it. The Word also says that the earth is crying out for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed. What if them being revealed is through creativity, is through solutions, is through when Holy Spirit puts it on your heart to call someone and say something, you do it. And then He puts it on your heart to do this. And it seems nutty, but you do it anyway because it doesn’t matter what other people say!
And I feel like too, you know, it was gradual the level of genius. So three- to five-years of age, the level of genius was at 98%. And then, at 10 years old, 30%. Fifteen-year olds, 12%. Adults, 2%. It was gradual, but God can do things quickly. So I’m going to read, Ephesians. And if Holy Spirit, if we get to it, we’re going to talk about Charles Capp’s prophecy regarding financial inversion. Because they all fit together. Because the body of Christ is about to be equipped to carry out the things that God has put on their heart to do. And a three- to five-year old believes that. If you tell a little tiny, precious one what you’re going to do tomorrow, their eyes get really big. They’re completely engaged. And if it doesn’t happen the next day, guess who’s there to remind you. This is how we pray. This is how we live.
And when Bill Johnson was talking about creating during war, that truly is the answer during this time, because we are at war. And every other time at war, it was praising God. You have to have an attitude of happy to praise God. You’re going to have to be childlike right now to get the victory. But children also know the greatness of their Father, that they’re cared for. So based on just even Romans8, “For the spirit of which we now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you’ve received the spirit of adoption, the spirit producing sun ship in the bliss of which we cry Abba Father.” The solution to fear sonship, is perfect love that casts out all fear and causes you to do exploits.
We have the example of Jesus on the earth. Not even Jesus did anything other than what His Father did. He was completely dependent on the Father and look at what He did. We can be encouraged by that. When we know we can’t do it, but in Him we do all things.
So I’m going to read different scriptures from Ephesians one. And, I’m going to ask you to hear it through the filter of genius and through the mystery of a God that already knew that we would have the genius taught out of us. He already knew it. So He already provided the solution in the Word. A daddy that already knew that you would be put into a world that would want the genius killed in you. Yet He never lets that go.
Ephesians 1:6. “So we might be to the praise and commendation of his glorious grace, his favor and mercy.” Already, it starts out in a good mood. You know, when your little child isn’t happy, you know there’s something going on. “His glorious grace, favor, and mercy, which he freely bestowed on us in the beloved.” Freely bestowed on us His grace, His favor, and His mercy … has been freely bestowed on you. Why? Because you belong to Him and even Jesus walked the earth constantly in communion with the Father, knowing He needed grace, favor, and mercy. So how much more would you need it? And it’s free.
“In him we have redemption, deliverance, and salvation through his blood, the remission, the forgiveness of our offenses, shortcomings, and trespasses in accordance with the riches and the generosity of his gracious favor, which he has lavished upon us in every kind of wisdom [genius], and understanding [genius], practical insight, and prudence.” Isn’t it amazing that those children were geniuses when they were children. There’s the evidence of God right there in those children. And that’s us. There’s no getting away from it. The only way you’re going to get away from this is if you choose not to believe it or receive it, But if you get in the Word, it’s going to keep smacking you around until you let Him love you. He lavished upon you every kind of wisdom and understanding. Church, He lavished upon you every kind of wisdom and understanding. He makes known to you … think the genius, the mystery, the secret of His will of His plan and of His purpose. So in the middle of all this, He is making known to you the genius of His plan and how you participate in it.
Mike…
Honey, I just want to add something.
Jeannie…
Sure, come up here.
Mike…
I wasn’t quite sure what she was going to talk about today, but this is so good. When you’re saying all these things, what I’m reminding of is that even like that study says about creativity, how much has the world been trying to pull God out of us? It’s not just creativity. They’re wanting to say that it doesn’t exist. I got so many things I’ve been thinking about since you’ve been talking, but when you talked about enrollments about, you know, the spirit of adoption. So I’m adopted, and what’s interesting is that before I knew who my parents were, they said yes to me. I didn’t know anything because I was just an infant. And I knew I was adopted from whenever I can remember. So I never had a problem with that. No one could ever convince me that I’m not their child because I didn’t come from their bodies. But how much we as believers can really struggle with really believing as God our Father, even though He put that in us. He was thinking about it. He said yes to us before He even started building the earth. We were in His heart. And so I just want to speak to those people who might be really struggling with this. Cause I struggle with it off and on. If I’m having a good day, it’s really easy. When I’m having a bad day, it’s really hard to believe that God really loves me. And so I just want to speak and just pray over the people who are really struggling with forgetting that God said yes to them before they ever said yes to Him. And that doesn’t change the fact that we’re His children and the world will want to pull that relationship out of your heart because that’s where it all happens.
So, Father, right now, I just pray for those people who are struggling to really believe and receive. And I know that can sometimes be like a Christianese word, a term that we like to use, but there’s a truth in there that I don’t think we’ve quite realized yet because of so many people that struggle with this. If we know who we are and we know that God said yes to us, there’s no hesitation of being creative. You know, when kids they feel safe, they play, they have fun, they laugh, they sing. They scream. They do weird things. I’ve helped with like the two- and three-year-olds in little church. And when they’re just allowed to run around, you have to kind of corral them. Cause they’ll just get so excited and they’ll just bump into somebody else. So you have to kind of control that, but there is such a freedom that they have just to play. They’re not thinking, “Does that person like me or not?”
Jeannie…
Can you remember what you’re going to say? Because I want to add to that.
Mike…
Yes.
Jeannie…
So what’s the other part? How do you relate to children? How do you gain rapport with the child? You play with them. God wants to gain rapport with you. Play with Him, have fun with Him. Today I have an assignment for you. Go have fun with God and the more fun you have with Him, the more your heart will enlarge and receive and fun becomes a weapon. In that book, they also talk about how creativity in executives are using fun to problem solve. I mean, there’s so much Bible and what people are doing that succeed. And, I’m to thanking God right now that that spirit of adoption becomes a revelation to the Church because we are about to supersede what the world is crying out for us, for us to supersede, Because the Creator, the one that created everything, lives in us… the one that can create anything. I mean, we have nothing in common with Him.
Mike…
I really didn’t have much more than that, but I lost my place, which is fine. But, I guess really what I was going for is the heart of us really believing and believing. And the only way we’re going to really believe it is by spending time in His Word and not spending so much time listening to what the world wants. We all know this.
But, Father, I just pray right now for people who are really struggling with this, which might be almost everybody at some point at some level, in some area of their life. But, Lord, that we just speak over people that they really understand what it is to be adopted. What it really means is that back like Jenny was saying earlier when they were saying that that was actually, I want to say a higher level because that person was chosen. And we were all chosen, and we didn’t even know it. And when you’re chosen, … this is maybe a bad example but it just popped into my head. But if you were playing sports and you’re like splitting up and if you were picked to be on a certain team, there was a joy in that. Now, granted not everybody had a great experience with that. So that’s maybe a bad example. But the fact that the God of the universe picked us before He did anything else, He did all of this for us. And how much easier is it for us to love Him knowing that He did all this for us. But the world wants to come in and say “that’s not true. It’s every man for himself. There’s no backup. Life is hard.” Yeah, life is hard, but God came in and accomplished everything like Jeannie was saying earlier. Every answer we have, He provided it. You know how it’s funny too. How when somebody comes up with an invention or a product and people go, “That is so brilliant.” How come? Because it seems so easy. It seems so logical. And it’s like, how many people say, “well, why didn’t I think of that?” It’s not as hard as we think to be who God made us to be. And so I just pray right now that, that even as we’re walking in Jesus already removed the veil from our eyes, but the Father that we would really take off that veil that is covering us to see who we truly are because it’s you who put it in us. And so, Father, we thank you so much for the power of your Word and the power of our testimony and the blood. I mean, there’s such a combination there that I don’t think we fully understand what that power is, but I thank God it’s here. And hopefully it might be in our heads. That’s a good start, but He wants us to get it in our hearts. Like I was saying earlier, I can deduce from my thinking that my parents are my parents, even though they were not my biological parents. It’s my heart that will never be able to logically push that aside. And that’s exactly what God has and wants for His children.
