You must see your material possessions as merely tools to be used for God’s divine purposes. Does God want to bless us? Absolutely! But always set your heart on the ‘Blesser’ and not the blessing.
Sessions in Pain pg. 40
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: During this Christmas Season I invite you to walk in the Spirit of the Blesser. Bless someone who you would not naturally look to bless – the difficult person at work, a stranger, a hurting family, or the unusual neighbor. This is the heart of Christmas in that while we were yet sinners Christ came… for us.
Leaving Babylon pgs. 64-65
Overall, human beings are becoming more tired, weary, and depressed, but Babylon does not care, for her ultimate goal for us is separation from our Creator and the peace of His Holy Spirit. She hates when we pray. She hates when we begin to believe that God does love and care about us. Leaving her takes faith. To live by faith must become our new lifestyle if we are to survive the coming days. The foundation of this faith lifestyle is in God’s Holy Spirit. He does exist, He does love you, and He does want to be involved in your life. Your sin is not too great for Him to not forgive. The Holy Spirit always has been and always will be the one true Comforter of the human heart!
But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. Psalm 3:3 niv
God also has an agenda. His ultimate agenda is to bring you to Himself in an intimate relationship. God’s agenda includes you spending eternity with Him. His passion for you compels Him to carry out His agenda for you above all else; nothing else matters to Him except you with Him.
Sessions in Pain, pg. 111
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: You with Him, this has been God’s agenda ever since 
sin entered the lives of humanity. He would leave heaven, walk on water, take a beating, and die on a cross, just to bring you with Him…to heaven.
Leaving Babylon pg. 143
King David talked about this awakening in his 121st psalm. The first verse is actually a question…I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help?” In that time, the people were worshipping idols, and they would place these idols outside on hills as a symbol of their gods being in a heightened position. David asked a rhetorical question concerning these idols, “Will I lift up my eyes to the hills for my help?” We can also ask this question like this, “Will I look to people, money, position, and human power for my help?” Just like Israel of that day, we look to people and our idols for our help.
David answered this soul-searching question with a declaration that his help comes from the Lord! He would reject all of the idols of his day and look to the Lord for his help. He continued with the proclamation that God would preserve and protect his life and his destiny. The Lord would protect his work. The Father would keep him day and night, because He never sleeps. He ends this psalm with the words that God would keep him forevermore! Our curses are broken, and we can live and love in the security and peace of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
forevermore.
Leaving Babylon pg.160
When we observe how a drug addict is detoxified, there is a struggle before there is a release and the body is at peace. The struggle is necessary for the poison to exit the body as the flesh craves what will kill it. The body and the soul are in contention as the mind has made a decision to get the body clean. But peace will finally come.
Sin is our poison. It is often what our flesh and soul (our mind, will, and emotions) craves for. We see our entire existence through the glass of sin. Even after we come to Christ, we still struggle with the “encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us” (Heb. 12:1, amp). Our flesh and soul are constantly crying out for what it wants, so we contend with God for what we think He owes us. Trusting Him is still a distant state of mind. We want His blessing and His gifts but on our own terms, and therein lies our contending with Him.
Many believers are not yet at the place of complete trust, but be 
encouraged and keep on the journey. Day by day, from experience to experience, we come to know our God. Keep contending with God, and He will show you to this place of complete trust.
At an even deeper level than that of our soul dwells our spirit—the place where we have relationship with God. This is an area where we can also experience injury when the atrocities of life hit us hard; but this is also the area where true healing must begin. Injury to the spirit occurs when we choose to reject our relationship with God, due to physical and emotional wounds. Sessions in Pain, pg. 212
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS
The injured spirit may turn a deaf ear to God, if only for a moment, to flirt with the lie that this pain cannot be healed. It is at these times you need to hear the message from Him again:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah), Because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy), to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].”… “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing and in your presence.” (Luke 4: 18-19,21 AMP)
Leaving Babylon pg. 63
One of the greatest methods of deception that Satan uses to comfort the conscience of humanity is to convince us of the lie that God does not exist and that His Word, the Bible, is an outdated document whose principles no longer apply to contemporary man and our societies. The evil one persuades us that it is okay to cast off all restraints and do whatever feels good to us. And although we face the consequences of our poor decisions, on an individual and global scale, we fail to see the sickness and impending death of our world. Like Samson, our eyes have been plucked out as we work for Babylon.
We legalize pleasures and conveniences that destroy human societies and the world for the coming generations of human beings. In our blind arrogance, we believe we are smart and progressive in our thinking, failing to see the cliff we are headed for. An acid test that I use when I review today’s new legislations is the question, “If everyone on the planet did this act of legislation, where would human society be in a hundred years?” The chilling truth is that sometimes the answer is “extinct”! We would fail to exist as a race of beings on planet earth.
Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you’ve got, be resolute, and love without stopping (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 MSG)
The enemy convinces you that the only way to survive is to remain in a weakened state; he does not want you to know that Christ came to set the captives free. Perhaps you have come close to being set free and then retreated into your comfort zone because, just as the townspeople with the demon-possessed man, you are afraid of change (see Mark 5:1-20). I encourage you not to send Christ away but let Him set you free!
Sessions in Pain pg. 177
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: My favorite quote from Martin Luther King, Jr. is, “Fear knock at the door; faith answered; there was no one there.” I encourage to not to stay bound by fear, but answer the door and Christ is faithful to set you free.
LEAVING BABYLON PG. 108
Our Lord God is calling us to a better way. He commands us to be a people of His love, and His love compels us to give our very lives to Him. His Love asks us to do the very opposite of what we have learned in Babylon. Give. Give of ourselves, our money, our time, and our gifts to whatever He has called us to give to. God calls you and me to see the weary and hurting souls around us every day and carry out His purposes for them.
If you will seek Him and His righteousness first; then all of the other things that Babylon would have you working yourself to death over will be added. But it will take faith—faith in the fact that His promises are the only promises that are true and reliable. Babylon will break her contracts with you when it means more profit for her. This is the foundational principle of her work ethics: to gain more profit. But God’s promises are ever faithful.
During this season of waiting, it is important to be careful to speak the Word of God concerning your situation. Speak words of life, not only to yourself but to your accusers also. Job answered his accusers with the Word of God.
Sessions in Pain pg. 163
AUTHOR’S COMMENTS: It is critical as you wait before the Lord for relief, for peace, or for resolution, to keep you spirit well fed in His Word and in Prayer. As your accusers condemn you hold to Him and fight, not with your emotions, but with His Word.
For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12 amp).
