The Three Spirits

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Hey, welcome to Self Talk. I'm your host, me, Dr. Ray Self. Very glad you're with me. Got a really important show today. It's about three major things God gives you. This is the most important three things in your life. Pay attention to this show. I think you'll like it a lot. The show is sponsored by, brought to you by the International College of Ministry. Now enrolling at icmcollege.org. Also, guys, you can get a free evaluation there just to check out what it would take to get your degree. Doesn't cost you anything. You can sample our courses. There's free samples. Plus, it's just, if God's called you, you know it's time to get equipped and get that degree from an accredited Holy Spirit-filled seminary. That's enough of the promotion. Don't forget to like and subscribe at icmcollege.org/selftalk. God bless you. Thank you for being part of the show today. Couldn't do it without you.

God has given us three major gifts in life that can change our life and is really what we need. And matter of fact, it's mostly all that we need. But you have to understand what these gifts are, and you have to know how to apply them and use them in your life. You know, it's interesting how many free things God gives us that we cannot earn, but we have to believe. God is really big on faith. You know, believing and trusting in Him. It's not, you know, that we earn and we don't earn and achieve with God. You have to know God, understand God, and believe God. And when you start believing His promises, the promises begin to work for you. If you don't believe His promises or believe His truth, His truth doesn't work for you. That's why the Bible tells us things like we're justified by faith. We're saved by faith. We're redeemed by faith.

So what you believe, that's the condition for God. Believing in Him, believing His promise is true, putting your trust in that promise. And when you do, that promise begins to manifest itself, become real, and you begin to experience the reality of that promise. So in Ephesians, there's a common scripture that people have quoted many times, but I want to talk to you a little bit more about this because it, it's life-changing. Second Timothy 1:7. And before we do that, I want to pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to my show. I pray that my words will be a blessing to them, and mostly that your word will be a blessing. Holy Spirit, you are welcome here. You're welcome to touch us. You're welcome to guide us. You're welcome to empower us. Just have your way, Lord. Have your way. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

Second Timothy 1:7, “for God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of sound mind.” Well, this verse, first, firstly, the first thing it does is tell you what God has not given you, and that is fear. God doesn't provide fear. Fear doesn't come from God. You know, fear, there's an acronym for fear called false event appearing real. God doesn't give us fear. Usually fear comes from our own self, our flesh, or from the enemy, from a demon. Um, God's perfect love casts out fear. Fear is not the will of God. What's the will of God is our faith, our trust, our belief. That's His will. But He's not given us fear. But He has given us three other things. Power, love, and a sound mind. He said God's not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind. So through the Holy Spirit, God has given us three keys to life. Three keys to life. 

The first key is power. God has given us power. What is that power? It's the power of the Holy Spirit residing within you. You have the Spirit of God living within you. The Spirit of God is very, very powerful. And there is a power inside of you called the Holy Spirit. And this power is critical. It's critical to the Christian walk. You cannot walk and live the Christian life effectively in your own strength. This is why, um, Jesus, you know, commanded us. And you go into the book of Acts, and there's a commandment about this power that's very important for us to understand. 

So in Acts chapter 1, um, Jesus was talking in verse 8. He said, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” So He's telling us that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we receive power. What does that power do? It enables us to be a witness, a representative of Christ. I heard something interesting about the word represent. It means to re-present. So we can re-present Christ through the Holy Spirit. Now, it's more than just telling about Jesus. You see, Jesus wants us to use power in representing Him. We speak with power, speak with authority, but honestly, and you, and be truthful. The Bible says clearly, "These signs shall follow those who believe in my name: They'll cast out demons, they'll lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." 

So, we have the power to witness Christ, not just by telling people about Jesus, but by demonstrating Jesus with the power of God. And listen, I've done this. And you, and the Holy Spirit does it through me, but I have been in public. I have prayed for servers at restaurants. I've prayed for random people because I prayed for oh, I don't know how many thousands of people I prayed for at church services and ministering and all over, all over the US and different places. I'm getting ready to make several ministry trips right now. And I love to pray for people with my beautiful wife, Christie. And I put my hand on them. I pray and decree healing over them. I've seen thousands of people, well, maybe I’ve seen, I don't know, hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people, miraculously healed. I've seen demons leave people. I've seen miracles. I've seen a lot of stuff. Okay? But the Bible says God has given us three things. What has He given us? He's given us a spirit of power. He's not given us a spirit of fear, but He has given us what? He's given us according to power, love, and a sound mind. 

So, the first key to being a Christian and to be, and to, and to life, is to be a Christian, we need power. Not just to do the supernatural, but to walk a supernatural life. And to be able to overcome this world, we need power. And God has given us power. Then the scripture says He's also given us love, a spirit of love. God is love. Perfect love. Perfect love casts out fear, by the way. Love. We need love. We need the love of the Father. Love, a matter of fact, there's a study that was done years ago that love is the key to most all mental illness and psychological problems. The love of the Father is critical for us. We are designed to give love and receive love. We need unconditional love. And the love that God gives us is not a conditional love. You know, there's three types of love. I'll love you if, I'll love you because, or I'll love you period. God doesn't love us if. He doesn't love us because. He loves us, period. Unconditional love. Just like you and your children, except it's greater than the way you love your children. You know, I know you love your kids. I love my kids. And nothing can change that. I mean, have they frustrated me? Absolutely. Have my children made me angry? Absolutely. Has, have there been times when I've been disappointed in them? Yep, there have been times when I have been disappointed in them. Have I ever stopped loving them? Never. Never, ever, ever will I ever stop loving my kids and my grandkids and my wife. You know why? Because that love is unconditional. And no matter how hard I try to love and how much I love, it is nothing compared to the way God loves us and the amount of love He has for us.

Because see, that's the second key to life. The first key to the Christian life is the power of God. The second key to the Christian life is the love of God. We need the love. I've done a lot of teaching about the spirit of illegitimacy. And that spirit of illegitimacy comes on, comes upon a person normally typically when there's a lack of the father's affirmation. All of us need affirmation from our fathers. Remember when Jesus was baptized, He came out of the water, and there was a sound from heaven. It was God speaking. He said, "This is My Son in Whom I'm well pleased." He had the Father's affirmation, and He began His ministry. That affirmation, “You are my son. You are my daughter, and I am proud of you, and I am pleased with you.” That father's affirmation, we need it. We need that more than correction. We need that more than guidance. We need that more than provision. We need affirmation, and without that, a lot of bad things happen, especially opens up a door to the spirit of illegitimacy.” I've talked a lot about that in previous podcasts.

Illegitimacy causes us to try to prove our worth and prove our value instead of knowing our worth and knowing our value. But God, through His love, John 3:16, for God so loved us, He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish. How much does God love us? He loves us enough to allow His Son, Jesus, to give His life in exchange for our life. The divine exchange. That is love. That is love. Jesus said, "No greater love does a man have than to lay down his life for his friends." Jesus gave His life for me and for you. That's the love of the Father. The problem we have so many times is we forget about that love. We don't believe that love. And you see, the condition with God is always faith. You have to believe it to receive it. You're saved. You know, whosoever believes shall be saved. If we confess with our mouth and believe with our heart Jesus is Lord, we shall be saved. So, if you believe and know in your heart… now God loves you. God loves you. That doesn't change. That, that's truth. That's just like gravity is real. The sun's going to rise in the east and set in the west. That's just reality. That's reality. But for you to experience that love and to get it into your spirit, just believe it. Believe. Understand. See, as you think in your heart, so are you. 

When you believe, you understand. And you know beyond your head, you know in your heart, you know in your spirit, you know in your body, you know in your soul that God loves you no matter what. And He's never going to forsake you, no matter what. That's life-changing. And that's why God knew that we needed power and we needed His love. Because His love changes everything. His love is essential. His love is oxygen to us. His love is like blood in our veins. We need God's love, and He gives it to us freely to experience it, you must believe it. You must believe it. That's why I talk about it. I want people to believe. Then the third thing He gives us in this scripture is a sound mind. What is that? It's the mind of Christ. It's His mind. It's His thoughts. It's His way of thinking. It's His way of seeing. It's His way of knowing. Because with the mind of Christ, the Bible says you can be tr– it transforms who we are. 

So God gives us the power, which we need; He gives us the love, which is critical, and He gives us the mind, a sound mind, the mind of Christ. All three of these things are critical to our existence, to our life, to having peace and life more abundantly. A sound mind is the wisdom of God. It's being able to see things from God's perspective. It's being able to know truth that you couldn't have known before. It's being able to understand the things of the Lord. Being able to understand the word of God, understand solutions, understand answers, having God's wisdom for life, God's solutions for life, God's mind concerning so many things. God's mind concerning love and forgiveness, and God's mind concerning honesty and integrity, and the fruit of the Spirit.

When you read the Bible, and you feed on it, that's the mind of God. 

And so God has given us these three keys to life. These are three keys to life that we need. Three– We need power. We need love, and we need a sound mind. And the scripture says He's given that to us. He's given it to us. Again, our job is to believe it, receive it, and believe it in your heart. That's what we are called to do. That's the, the three gifts. It's the three keys to life. I'm calling this podcast the three keys to our life. And there's nothing more important than what I'm saying to you as far as what God wants you to have. Power…supernatural power, the Christian life is supernatural, the love of the Father, and a sound mind. With those three keys, those three primary things operating in your life, you're going to be successful. You're going to have peace. You're going to have the abundance that Jesus called for you to have. You see, He knew what we needed. God knew what we needed. He knew that we needed power. He knew we needed love, and we needed a sound mind. God gives us three keys to our life. Power, love, and a sound mind. Will you receive that today? Will you not receive that today? I want to pray with you that you, that this will become real to you. The power of God that the Holy Spirit will fill you right now, come upon you right now with His power. And I want you to know and experience that God loves you unconditionally. Not because you did this or you should do this, or not because you didn't do this. He doesn't pull His love away from you. He loves you just as you are. He made you unique. You're not like anybody else. 

I remember years ago, you know, I was like a lot of young people, and I compared myself to other people. And one day the Lord spoke to me. I remember in my spirit, it was like the Lord said, "Ray, there's nobody better than you. There's nobody worse than you because there's only one you." And for some reason, that hit me like a ton of bricks. It's like, "Wow, I know what God's trying to say. I'm different. There's no, there's no other Ray in the universe." Ray Self. I'm, I'm it. I'm the one and only. I'm the one and only me. So, there is no comparison. There's nobody greater, nobody lesser. Doesn't matter what society says. Society says, "Well, you're only great if you have money or prestige or position, or you're a leader." But the word of God says, "I am perfectly fine. I'm a joint heir with Jesus Christ and a child of the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. I'm good. I am really good. I don't– there's no comparison with me. I'm good just like I am." But you know what? He's not going to leave me like I am. He's going to continually work on me and improve me. I'm like a painting that's still being painted, and so are you. You see, that's the love of God. Now the mind of Christ is that ability to understand God. That ability to understand your part in this life. The ability to understand what is God's part and what is your part. What is your job? What is His job? How do you handle this situation? How do you handle that situation? Where do you go? What do you do? What do you say? That's the mind. That's the sound mind that He promises. We need all these things. We need power. We need love. And we need a sound, godly mind. And we have these three keys operating. There is no limit. There is– with God, nothing is impossible. And when you have the power of God, the love of God, and the mind of God, these three spirits operating, I say, your potential is astronomical. Nothing is impossible for you. Amen. Amen. 

I hope this meant something to you. You know, it's a, it's a powerful, it's a powerful message. God has given you the three keys to life. Power, love, and a sound mind. Heavenly Father, I pray that this message will be real. Whoever is listening to this right now, that this will become real in their life. Lord, help our unbelief. Let us believe your truth, believe your word. You have already given us your love, your power, your mind. Father, for those that are listening, who say, "Yeah, I just don't know if I have it." Lord, make it real to them right now. Holy Spirit, make it real right now. To everyone listening to me, make this real. This, the reality of your love, the reality of your power, the reality of your mind. Father, we praise you for the three gifts. We praise you for it. Holy Spirit, touch, and let this word become reality. Let this truth become reality to everyone listening to this show right now. In Jesus’ name I pray this, and I believe this. Come, Holy Spirit. Touch right now through my– sound of my voice. Touch everyone listening to this show right now with your reality of your power and your love and your mind. Thank you, Jesus. Praise you, Lord. Amen. Amen.

Wow. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I think this is my 237th episode. Hard to believe. Thank you so much. If you can help me with this show with donations, would be great. That's up to you and God. Uh, the way you support the show is go to uh, my website, icmcollege.org/donate, and there's several funds there you can donate to. Any fund you donate to ultimately will help us. I thank you so much for being a part of this. Don't forget to subscribe. You know, go to the website for the show. Again, the easiest way is in the, it's also, the links are in the notes, show notes with icmcollege.org/selftalk. And you know, if you give me a review, that helps us get more listeners. If you subscribe, it helps. Again, I thank you for being a part of Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self. And I just pray God's blessing all over you and your family because you know what? You've got power, love, and a sound mind. Amen. And amen.

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