After the first teaching, I was so stirred and disturbed, that I wanted to leave. I couldn't understand what was happening, why I was so resistant. But I prayed about it and discussed it with Jim, who advised for us to return. And then I knew why there was so much resistance - the Lord had prepared a blessing for us beyond any we had ever known, and the devil was trying to influence my flesh to run from it.

The theme of the conference was about being born again, which seems to be a strange thing to teach a bunch of ministers. But Pastor Dave went into it in a depth I've never heard before, and made me more sure of my salvation and victorious life in Jesus than I've ever been.

A couple of things that really stuck with me:

Before we are born again, we are spiritually dead, with an infinite capacity for evil. Think about Hitler and the depths of depravity and horror he brought upon the earth. The only restraining factor in a spiritually dead human life is an "artificial" conscience pounded in them by their parents. Without this we all could become a Hitler, or worse.

Ephesians 2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins

But the good news is, when we are born again, we become spiritually alive, we receive a recreated human spirit. We walk in newness of life. And we have an infinite capacity to grow and become like Jesus. We have power NOT to sin. We now have the awesome ability to talk and commune with God like Adam and Eve before the Fall. And as we yield to the Holy Spirit, our human spirits, alive in Christ, can continue to grow and develop.

Colossians 2:13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

But If you blame others for your faults, shortcomings and problems, you take away the very material that the Holy Spirit needs to do the work in you that needs to be done to conform you to the image of Christ:

James 4:7-12 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor?

We received a Word of Knowledge from Pastor Dave Roberson on10/7/98:

After this, we were slain in the spirit. I haven't shared with anyone at ChurchUSA, or at this conference about my holy heritage. That is, on my mother's side of the family, I come from a long line of Christians who not only served the Lord in their lifetimes, but prayed for their descendants to serve the Lord. My great grandfather, Flournoy Gustavius Yates, was a Methodist teaching elder. When age came upon him, he came to live with my grandmother and had many visions. No body wrote them down and many aren't remembered, which I believe is sad.

My grandmother, Ethel Yates Radford, was a also real prayer warrior, and no matter what the problem, she would simply say, "Let's pray". And we'd kneel, usually at the couch, and she would lift up her slender hands to the Lord and "make it a matter of prayer". Hallelujah! Only Heaven knows how many faithful prayers that little lady lifted up to God, but I know that her prayers saved me and those I love from destruction many times. And my mom, Atheline Evans, also is a believer and a prayer warrior and has been an example to me of extreme love as long as I've known her. I've always felt like Paul's word to Timothy fits my life:

2 Timothy 1:5 I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.

I also have an aunt that is a prayer warrior and a minister's wife, and other Christians in my family and family line. As for the unbelivers, by faith, we are believing for all of them to be saved!

The anointing in that tabernacle of God's Spirit was intense, and we could feel God's presence continually there. We witnessed many miracles of healing and deliverance. And physically were totally exhausted. We didn't even make all the services. I told Jim that I understood now why God just doesn't drop everything we need to know into our bodies at once - it would kill us. The human body has to become acclimated to the workings of the spirit - and it is a gradual process.

So on the morning of 10/9/98, we were running late to the morning service, but praise God not too late! We got there about 9:15 am, about 15 minutes before they usually take a break. During this whole conference, I had been speaking health and healing to my body and asking the Lord to cleanse me. I have severe immune system problems, and felt that I needed to be cleansed of toxins. So the whole conference, I had to frequently go to the bathroom.

Well, we'd only been in the service about 10 minutes, and really hadn't caught up to what Pastor Dave was teaching, when he invited us to come up to the front to receive a special anointing, which I wasn't even sure at the time what he meant. But he said that it wasn't for everyone, but if it was for you that the Holy Spirit would speak to you and let you know. Well, it was as if my inner man was pulling me up out of my seat, and I felt such a yearning inside, I couldn't refuse. So I told Jim, "I know we've only been here 10 minutes, but I've got to go".

Well, he thought I meant "go to the bathroom"! So he was very surprised to see me at the altar. So he hurried up to join me, and Pastor Dave said that we might feel a spirit of weeping come upon us, and we did, something from very deep inside. And I began praying in the spirit, very loudly as it turned out, because you can hear me on the tape of the service! And went down under the spirit before Pastor Dave touched me. And later, Jim felt it flow over him "like heat" and went down too.

How can I explain it? We received an anointing of peace so strong that we could hardly sit up for days. Such a peace, a higher level than I knew existed. It's really hard to put in words, but I wouldn't exchange it for anything.

Of course the devil has tried to rob us of it - but no, it's a permanent change in our spirits and we will not lose it. It's like a shield of peace permanently around us, a wall or fortress of peace.

As Paul said in Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

The Greek word for guard here is phroureo {froo-reh'-o} which means to guard, protect by a military guard, either to prevent hostile invasion, or to keep the inhabitants of a besieged city from flight; to protect by guarding, to keep by watching and guarding to preserve one for the attainment of something.

Praise the Lord! This anointing of peace is protecting our hearts and minds from hostile invasion, is watching and guarding to perserve our spirits as we strive to attain the high calling in Christ Jesus!

Peace is eirene {i-ray'-nay} signifying, rest, quietness, tranquillity, exemption from the rage and havoc of war; harmony, concord; security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous). Specifically of the Messiah's peace: the way that leads to peace (salvation) of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is.

If you are not at peace today, why not start by making peace with God? Confess your sins to Him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be born again - receive a recreated human spirit, be adopted as God's son, be forgiven of all your sins, be bought back from the rule of the devil, and live an abundant life forever!