Day Six: Daniel Fast 2013

For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.         1 Corinthians 2:9-14 Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Becoming Spiritually Intelligent! Day Six: Daniel Fast 2013 Beloved of God, As I have been asking the Lord to make us more into a people of His Presence and Glory, the following has been the encouragement that I received from the Lord, in different ways and venues over the last week or so. It is not all original to me, but it has been a recurring theme lately, and so I receive it as an answer to my petitions. Part of hosting His Presence and being people of his Glory is found in being filled with his Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit. We are to earnestly desire spiritual gifts. So Lord I pray for an increase of all the gifts of the Spirit in our midst and an explosion of Spiritual Intelligence. 1 Cor 14:1 Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. Heb 5:14 But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil. The word senses in Greek means an organ of perception…the ability to perceive into the spiritual reality. We are tripartite beings which means we have 3 distinct parts: spirit, soul and body. We are a spirit that has a soul that has a body. There is also three levels of intelligence that we need to recognize: IQ, EQ and SQ. IQ (Intelligent Quotient) is a number representing a person’s reasoning ability. EQ (Emotional Quotient) or emotional intelligence, is really big in the business world for the last 10 years or so. The EQ is the emotional intelligence, the ability to perceive emotions and integrate emotions to facilitate thought, understand emotion and regulate emotion to promote personal and corporate growth. In other words, it’s the ability to read people, not intellectually but from the heart. Great leaders that have lead movements and nations do not have the highest IQ but have a great EQ and are able to move people towards a goal by emotionally touching their heart. The third form of intelligence is SQ (Spiritual Quotient) or spiritual intelligence, which is the ability to discern, perceive and judge the spiritual dimensions that are around you and manage this world toward a positive outcome. God created us a spirit that has a soul that has a body. The soul and the body are good, but we are to be led by our spirit, under the Holy Spirit. People in the world are hungry to develop this part of their being (Harry Potter etc…). They just go about it from the wrong perspective. 1 Cor 12:4 "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. Vs 5. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. Vs 6. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. Vs 7. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Vs 8 For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; Vs 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, Vs 10 and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. Vs 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills. It’s interesting that there is a variety of effects, though it is the same gift in operation from the same spirit. So three people in the body can have the same gift but it can have a different effect and produce three different ministries, so it can have one effect in one arena and a different effect in a different arena, but it’s the same Holy Spirit. (Some, for example, received the gift of wisdom to carve out ornate wood and all sorts of other crafts - look at the building of the tabernacle). We can us our spiritual gifts, our SQ, wherever we work. Vs 7 It’s all given for the common good. God is good all the time and all the gifts are good all the time. This is the core value of the Holy Spirit, that gifts are given for the common good. If the fruits of the gifts are not good, then it was not the Spirit’s idea. We see that there are many aspects to spiritual intelligence. Let’s look at some of those dimensions and ask for an increase of anointing from the Lord. The gift of discernment. (distinguishing of evil spirits, and also of human spirit) The ability to discern what spirit is influencing the area you are in or people you are in contact with. You can step into someone’s life and know if there is a spirit influencing that person’s life. For example, if you come in contact with someone who has a spirit of suicide on them and you have the gift of discernment of spirit, it will affect you. The way it works with some people is that when you come into the sphere of influence of that person with the spirit of suicide you will have suicidal thoughts and feeling (same for depression, discouragement, fatigue…). If you don’t know that you have the gift of distinguishing of spirit, you can feel bipolar. If you don’t understand this, that it is not your thoughts/feelings/will, you will experience extreme mood shifts as you move from one place to another. God wants you to be aware that this is a gift from the Holy Spirit, and that he has called you to displace those spirits as he has given you authority over them through Christ Jesus. Have you ever gone into a store or a building feeling perfectly fine and 5 minutes after you got there, you feel completely drained and you just want to get out? That is the gift of distinguishing of spirits. As you learn to know that this is not you, you can tell that spirit "get off me"!  "And by the way, while I’m here, get out of this region, this is my city!" That’s how important spiritual intelligence is, so you know you have authority over the spiritual world. The second part of the gift of discernment of spirits is the ability to recognize the amount of favor that is present on people. It’s the ability to discern the amount of favor that is on somebody else (Luke 14 and the parable of the guests…Jesus says,  "take a lower seat", so if someone more “distinguished” that you, someone with more favor comes in, you do not position yourself higher than you should.  You have to recognize the amount of favor that is on someone’s life to place any value on it and receive from them. That gift is important to discern the amount of favor that God has placed on someone, so you can get low and receive from God through that person’s mantel or anointing. Part of Spiritual Intelligence is to no longer know each other according to the flesh but according to the spirit. Without SQ, you want to take a higher seat than you need to, and might be asked to move down, plus you don’t receive from the grace that God intended to pour on you through that person. If you think that person has nothing to give you, then you don’t receive anything. Remember when Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint the future king, and Eliab came in and Samuel is going to anoint him king? God says, "you have the wrong son, don’t look at people the way men perceive." If we do not "see" the way God does, then we wrongfully related to ourselves and others.  We must be more aware of who God has placed in our lives, using the gift of discernment. The gift of discernment helps us to see past the weaknesses of others, so that we can submit to the Christ in them. This is called "honor" and is critical for staying in unity with others and attracting the favor of God.  If we don’t practice spiritual gifts, (Heb 5:14) if we are not spiritually intelligent, or not spiritually aware, we miss the blessings that were intended for us. Remember the anointing oil that was flowing down from Aaron’s head and beard and down his leg and all the way to his feet. The same anointing that was on the head, if he was in the right alignment, was the same anointing that was on his feet.  But if you get out of alignment, you create a "dripping point", where the oil falls down and is wasted. This takes increase SQ. When we come under the right alignment, and discern there is something powerful in that person that we need, then we get the same anointing that was on that person. Knowing each other by the spirit, mixed with humility and submission, opens the door to God's favor and blessing. This is the hardest to do with the people who are the closest to you. Why? Because we become so familiar with their humanity and weakness, then we start to judge them, assuming we know their motives (a sin of pride which God strictly forbids). We then dismiss them, pull away, and divide, which cuts off the flow of God's anointing. The family of God has been seriously weakened for lack of humility and SQ (Spiritual Quotient/Intelligence). The gift of knowledge The ability to receive facts and information from the Holy Spirit about this world. I used this gift in my nurse’s office when kids would come in. It’s like cheating almost. :) This gift can be used in any field, medical, engineering, computer programming, teaching, and any other field. We can use this gift in different fields, and it has different effects. The gift of wisdom The ability to rightly apply knowledge unto life. Apostolic gifting is normally very strong with the gift of wisdom, how to position this or that person, rearrange the circumstances this way. It works well in business. It is very powerful when mixed with prophetic gifts and the gift of knowledge. The gift of prophecy The ability to see the future before it happens and the ability to cause the future through releasing the word of God in a timely manner. Gen 41 …Pharaoh has a dream about the future but doesn’t know what it means. Joseph says this v, 25…God has told pharaoh what he is about to do… Same story with Nebuchadnezzar and his dream…Daniel 1 v. 17 God gave them knowledge and intelligence and wisdom and Daniel understood dreams and visions…that is SQ. They got it from God. Nebuchadnezzar was a wicked king but he was spiritually wired. Dan 2:26…God has made known to the king what is to happen in the future… The world is hungry for SQ (Hollywood, music, books), but they don’t know what they are hungry for. They are looking for someone to teach them SQ. The enemy wants to train the world in the dark side, but God wants to release SQ on the earth through His people. I pray for an increased anointing on our church family and the whole Body of Christ.  I pray that we hunger for the gifts of the Spirit and train ourselves to overflow with His Presence wherever we are. Happy Daniel Fast 2013, Emmanuel Boussuge (Wife Lori, Daughter Sarah, Son Joshua)

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