GTFI Articles

Thankful Beyond Measure

2011-01-01T16:21:00.000-05:00

I never thought I'd hear myself actually thinking or ever writing this, but the thought actually came to mind as I wrote this: TODAY is a NEW day IN HIM.... My uncle and aunt both went to a local church to participate in a new year's service, and my cousin was here earlier with his godson, and he took him home at around 10:30 pm, thus leaving me spending the waning moments into the New Year "alone" for the first time that I can remember.... I continued to do some work on my computer up until a few minutes before the New Year, organizing, deleting and creating new files, and then I sat down in front of my boombox, computer, and television here on the second floor of the house, and watched Dick Clark in New York City count down to the New Year on ABC. Once 2011 officially came, I turned the television off, turned the lights off, and turned on some worship music while looking out the window at the fireworks that were happening throughout Tampa....

But while that was taking place, I found myself thinking about where the Lord has me, and where He has brought me, and thanking Him for bringing me thus far. At the age of 30 (going on 31), I'm young, healthy and single. I have a roof over my head, clothes on my back, and have a loving family. The Lord has me managing a full-fledged internet radio station, the major equipment for the ministry, and managing a company. I realize that the Lord has TRULY supplied ALL our needs, and even some of our desires! The Lord has kept us alive to see a day that many of our ancestors, brothers and sisters were not able to see....

But more than anything, I'm thankful that the Lord has graced me to be in a position to RECEIVE His WORDS into my life, which has transformed this mindset into what you are witnessing now (which is a sober and sane one). I'm thankful that the Lord has placed me within a ministry that speaks WORDS of REVELATION into my life. There is SO much to be thankful for that I can't even keep count of the miracles that He has performed, and for that I am forever grateful....

However, the miracle of this transformation (that I'm still receiving) is that in spite of all the trials that I am still going through, I have FOUND MYSELF at PEACE.... It's not that I don't feel the "pressure," but in the midst of the pressure, the simple WORDS that the Lord has already spoken to us (regarding Him being WITH us and IN us; NEVER to leave or forsake us; because He is joined to us, and therefore He is experiencing the exact same things that we experience, etc.) is the "Spirit" that is CAUSING me to be (and remain!) at peace, over-against all that I'm facing.... And, as each minute, hour and day pass by, the "persuasion" of Him is becoming stronger and stronger....

So, my prayer to all that are His is that there will be a NEW and FRESH Revelation of the Lord Jesus in your life TODAY, and from that Revelation, favor, blessings, prosperity, and all the fruits of the Spirit are manifested in your life! Remember that HE IS IN YOU, and will NEVER leave you or forsake you, and that HE WILL CAUSE YOU to live unto Him each day, all for His own praise!

NOW is the time to LIVE....

Burn The Quaran???....

2010-09-08T14:39:00.001-04:00

Dorian J. Owens
Wednesday, September 8th, 2010
A few days ago, I ended up reading about a Florida pastor who is currently staging an event on September 11th called "International Burn a Qua ran Day," where he and his 50 followers are going to burn the Qua ran for a day, in an effort to send a message to the people who are in Islam that what they are doing is evil, along with sending a message to the church that they are to stand up for what is right, which is the Word of God, and not back down from all this evil taking place....

In other words, this pastor thinks that by sending a message of fear and condemnation through the burning of the Qua ran, that will cause the 1.2 billion+ Muslims in this world to repent of their sins, and come to Jesus. Secondly, he thinks that this action is an effort on the part of the church to actually "do something" about the evil in the world.... Do we not realize that a condemning word does not save people, but only hardens their mindsets towards others?.... Do we not realize that we who are His are not here to try and change other people's mindsets, but instead, we're here to simply be WITNESSES of Him, and from that, HE is the One that changes mindsets?....

Let me take the opportunity to share something with you. When I looked back on my life, I noticed that the words I was hearing were primarily condemning words. Those words produced a level of fear inside of me, and as a result, at a young age, I got "saved" because of it (which was, to a good extent, come to Jesus so that you won't end up in hell, etc.....). In fact, later on in my life, for a season I even participated in the wave of condemnation towards other religions (i.e. telling people they were evil, and that they would go to hell if they didn't change, etc.)....

But, at the end of the day, do you know what I found? Looking back (now with a different mindset!), I lived my life in fear, although the exterior appearance of me looked as if everything was alright. The prospect of not doing something, or avoiding something, or trying to do something right (like trying to fulfill His WORD, or trying to eat right, avoiding all evil, etc.) was what controlled my life. More than anything, I was blind to this simple revelation, so no one at the time could have told me that without me not coming back towards them in some condemning fashion, or countering their thought with something that I THOUGHT I believed....

Also, when I looked back at that time in my life, I found that I ended up in the same situation I was in before I got started! For instance, I would hear words such as, "You've got to take responsibility for yourself, and get closer to God," and that would inspire me for a day or two (or three!), but after the inspiration "wore down," I ended up going back to irresponsibility, and doing the things that I naturally would do. I kept doing crazy things in an effort to "get closer to God," (such as leaving from home for a period of time, without my family knowing where I was, etc.) but the reality of it was that I didn't even know where God was in the first place (although I THOUGHT I knew where He was....).... The miracle of this experience was that at the end of each "inspiration," I kept noticing that "something was missing." I wasn't hearing something, but I couldn't "put my finger on it" as to what it was, but little did I know that the Lord set all this up before I even knew Him!....

Then, another miracle happened: The Lord answered the question of what was missing! The thing that was missing wasn't someTHING, it was the REVELATION of who the Lord IS!....Quite simply, He first placed me in a position to simply HEAR the WORD. From HEARING, I had questions, all of which HE answered (and are continuing to be answered!) about what's His nature, how He operates, etc.. As this continued, HE (not I) began to (little by little) CAUSE me to discern the things of Him versus the Spirit of error, see why things are happening as they are now throughout the world (because the world's been judged already), what we have been left here in the earth to BE (which is be witnesses of Him; revealing Him in all things that we do), to see how HE does this INSIDE OF US and through us instead of just "with" us, and SO much more....
The point of this article is to reveal to us that we, the Body of Christ, were placed here in this world to simply be WITNESSES of who He is, not to fight other religions, or condemn and "send" other people to hell because of what they believe (besides, if the Lord doesn't grab their mindset, we can't do anything about it, so why stress over it? And, Christ has the keys to both death AND hell, so why are we stressing over something that the Lord has under HIS control?....)....

Specifically, the WORD that I'm talking about is not a word of fear, intimidation, and condemnation, instead, it is a WORD of Revelation about the CURRENT reign and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ (i.e. who He is NOW....). Notice in this, that I'm not talking about who He was in the earth, as those are aspects of Him before His death, burial, and even resurrection. Instead, this WORD is about the ascended Man that the Father Himself is glorifying and exalting in this season! This talks about the Man, Christ Jesus, the One who is currently running EVERYTHING in the universe, the One who knows all and sees all, from the end to the beginning! Also, this talks about how we who are His can actually receive the benefits of who He is, how we can live unto Him, over-against all that is going on, in peace that surpasses all understanding, etc. That, and SO much more, is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and through that WORD (by the working of HIS Spirit, not ours) are we transformed, and because of that transformation IN US, others in the world see that, and are also transformed as well....

The "Working" Of The Holy Spirit

2010-08-02T14:45:00.000-04:00

Sunday, August 1st, 2010

Dorian J. Owens

For the past few weeks, the Lord has been speaking to us on various topics, from "Is This Real," to "Living In Today," to "The Nations: The Receipt Of The Holy Ghost," and SO much more! But yet, all of those WORDS have been speaking about the "working" of the Holy Spirit, and how He does His work IN US, by Himself (the Holy Spirit) instead of us "trying" to fulfill His WORD ourselves....

Too often, we in the Body of Christ look at life from the mindset that we are the ones that have to perform His WORD, instead of humbling ourselves to simply believe (receive) that the Lord does it all IN us and THROUGH us ("Faithful is He who calls us, who also will do it" (1st Thessalonians 5:24))! It is very, very easy for us to look at things from the former mindset because we have been trained to think that way when we grew up. But if we could simply RECEIVE (believe) the WORDS that the Lord has been speaking to us, over-against what we have seen or perceived, that really would provide a relief to our souls!

Let me share this with you. For just about all of my life, I have TRIED to do "His will." Sunday after Sunday, I would acknowledge the WORD, and get inspired, and make a determination or a "decision" in my heart that I was going to live right, or do something correctly, or avoid doing something bad. The "decisions" I made would work for a day or two (or three!), so I thought, but EVERY SINGLE TIME, my flesh would "catch back up to me." Then, I'd backslide, go back to doing what I did in the past, be condemned, and then find myself at the "altar" again, "repenting" for what I did. And the entire process would repeat again and again....

But, WHEN the Lord brought me here to Florida, I have to admit that LIFE actually did change for me! Praise the Lord for the "working" of the Holy Spirit! You see, I didn't "decide" one day to completely stop doing wrong, or "decide" within my heart to follow Jesus, or anything like that. In fact, I came to understand that it was not about "my decision" but rather "His decision" regarding me! The Lord began to open my understanding of "His working in me by the Holy Spirit" and "His Way" of working, LITTLE BY LITTLE, day by day. As the "Revelation of Christ in us" continued to be revealed to me through believing (receiving) the WORD, I ended up FINDING myself in the process of being "changed" over time! I didn't TRY "to do" or "not to do." Instead, I began to realize that the Holy Spirit was the One that confronted the thoughts in my mind (even ones I didn't even know I had!) day by day, little by little, to TRANSFORM my mindset into this mindset that you see in this writing today!

And that "TRANSFORMATION" (the focus of this writing) is what the Lord (by the "working") had PURPOSED to do IN US, from the very Beginning! So my friends, continue to believe (receive) the WORD that is going forth, as those WORDS will be "quickened" by His Spirit (the Holy Ghost) to affect the "transformation" of our daily thoughts, habits, and more into the Mind of Christ, which will provide us with relief, comfort, peace that surpasses all understanding, and much more, IN THE MIDST of whatever situations we face! ~DJO

Deliverance

2010-06-02T15:10:00.000-04:00

Dorian J. Owens
Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
Have you ever been in situations where you didn't know how to get out of it? No matter how hard you tried, it seemed like nothing was changing! I grew up my entire life, listening to sermons in church where the preachers were preachin' HARD (okay....), and they kept on saying stuff like, "HOLD ON, HOLD ON, HOLD ON!!!;" or, "You've got to live according to His will and way," or "Just trust Him," and MUCH more....

But, the thing I kept noticing was that EVERY SINGLE TIME that I TRIED to do those things myself in an attempt to deliver myself from the situations I was in, I kept failing at it. For instance, I'd hear certain phrases such as, "HOLD ON," and then feel the euphoria of the experience of church as we in the charismatic churches know it (which was simply, the preacher would get "happy;" which would then cause him to stop holding the microphone regularly; instead, now he has to "cup" the mic in his hand, and put it up against his mouth, and start preaching really hard, and then you just HAD to hear the Hammond B3 organ start "singing" at full blast, and then someone had to start running around the church, even though they didn't catch ANY REVELATION WHATSOEVER of what was said, and so much more; I could go on about this, but I've got more to say regarding deliverance, so I digress (LOL)....) Anyway, after that entire experience, I'd TRY to hold on, but I found that I wasn't holding on to anything but MY own faith, which wasn't strong enough to DELIVER me from where I was at.... It wasn't until last year (after 28+ years of life on this earth) that the Lord PURPOSED that I receive the REVELATION of what "deliverance" is, and also to experience it for myself....

But, before we go any further, what is the definition of "deliverance?" According to the New Oxford American Dictionary, the word "deliverance" means, "the action of being rescued or set free." But then, it goes even further, as a second definition is in there, which is, "a formal or authoritative utterance...." You see, I learned the former definition during my childhood days in church, and it was interpreted to mean something that was miraculous, or something that I couldn't possibly have been able to do myself. In terms of the scriptures, the first thing that came to mind whenever somebody talked about "deliverance" was regarding the Israelites being set free, or delivered, from out of Egypt. But then, because that was an event that happened over 3,000 years ago, it wasn't a "relevant" thing to me now. Instead, I was told, and then I later embraced the "fact," if you will, that deliverance was something that meant that I had to deliver MYSELF from where I was at, and that the Lord would "help me" get myself out of this....

But, ladies and gentlemen, thanks be unto our Lord that that is not the case in the Kingdom! Now, yes, deliverance is "the action of being rescued or set free," BUT, from the Kingdom perspective, deliverance first happens via an utterance, or SPOKEN WORD that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks to us, and mind you, this is through men and women that are His, NOT through religious means, or through the world.... Think about this here: Deliverance is an action, but it only happens through a SPOKEN WORD that only His Spirit can bring to us....

So, what does this mean? What's the point of this "moment" here? Quite simply, we CANNOT deliver ourselves from stuff, situations, or circumstances (no matter how hard we try); instead, only the Lord can deliver us from stuff.... Religion tells us that we are to deliver OURSELVES, and that only gets us but so far, but from the Kingdom standpoint, HE (referring to the Lord Jesus Christ) DELIVERS US....

But then, HOW does the deliverance happen? What is the order of it?.... One of the things that I have learned over the past year is whenever I have wanted a situation or circumstance to change (in the natural), the Lord first CAUSES me to be in worship unto Him. (and the worship unto Him has been through not just gathering with everyone at church on Sundays and Wednesdays, but also through my daily activities too, such as doing website design, graphic design, photography, or other things that the Lord would have me to do regarding the furtherance of His Kingdom....) From that, the Lord then has HIS way (which only He can bring) of causing me to see the situation differently than before. THEN, He changes my situation on the exterior, or in the natural....

Just so you can see what I'm talking about, I'll give you an example. One is regarding my recent trip to Atlanta. At first, I wanted to come in January (as that was when I initially thought about coming). I first began to start looking up how much it would cost for me to be there for 5 days, and saw it would be over $700 (and ladies and gentlemen, that amount was on the low end....). So, after seeing that was not going to work, I was reminded first that the Lord is the One who will supply ALL my needs, according to HIS riches in Glory, not mine.... In other words, I realized that He is the One that will orchestrate every detail regarding my going to Atlanta instead of myself.... So, from that simple WORD, I released those things that I was trying to do UNDER MY OWN STRENGTH unto the Lord, and "went on to the next thing...." Once I did that, the Lord then opened up the door for me to come to Atlanta for a weekend, as part of new business in my own company! I only paid about $80 for gas, which was a fraction of what it would have cost if I was to have come up there UNDER MY OWN STRENGTH! My room was paid for, and I didn't have to get a rental or plane ticket to get up there; instead, I was able to ride with a staff member of the company I was working with, and I was able to stay with the owners of the company, at their house!....

Plus, another dynamic of "deliverance" is that the TIMING of the entire thing was perfect too, because if I had tried to come up the week before the trip came about, I would have been driving back in the midst of a snowstorm that came to Atlanta at that time.... But notice here that when I released those things that I was trying to do under my own strength (and mind you, the strength to even release those things was something WHICH ONLY THE LORD CAN BRING....), THAT was when the Lord manifested Himself in the situation....

So, my friends, the point of all this is simple: I'm here to let you know TODAY that you cannot deliver yourself from where you are at; instead, ONLY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST can deliver you. I know this because for many years, I tried to deliver myself out of the situations I was in, but didn't have any success. Instead, EVERY SINGLE TIME that I tried to deliver myself from the situations or circumstances I was in, I would end up failing at it, which then bred frustration, anger, depression, anxiety, and even more pressure to get out of the situations. BUT THE LORD WAS FAITHFUL, and He literally came to me WHERE I WAS AT, and literally delivered me from where I used to be (which was a place of hustling, trying to make a buck all the time, trying to survive, TRYING to live according His WORD, etc., etc.) to a place of freedom NOW in Him (which is allowing Him to CAUSE His WORD to be so inside of me, CAUSING me to do what He said, CAUSING me to show goodness, kindness, gentleness, patience, etc. towards others, and more)....

In the coming articles, I'll be sharing with you some more moments regarding the HOW of the Lord.... You see, it's not a thing of "God WANTING us to live according to His Way;" instead, we in the Body of Christ are PURPOSED to RECEIVE the WAY OF THE LORD by His Spirit, and as that is being spoken by the Lord to us and RECEIVED by us by His Spirit, we begin to see HOW He does things. And, as that is happening inside of us, the Lord then begins to TRANSFORM US, first on the inside, and then, He delivers us in the natural....