When we see a Christian brother or sister fall, we can look to Peter as an example of what took place.  It isn't about lack of love, determination, number of good deeds done, desire etc etc.  It's all about taking our eyes of Jesus and placing our faith somewhere else.  Peter "saw" the wind and sank.  There are many things we can see other than Christ.

It's all about faith in Jesus Christ the Son of God.  We received the Holy Spirit by faith in Jesus Christ not of works on our own behalf or our flesh.  And the Holy Spirit will operate in a person who has their faith in Jesus Christ.  This isn't simply a matter of faith that Christ is God's Son.  It is a matter that He supplies the power to help us along life's struggles.

One of the most difficult things to explain these days is the power to overcome comes from the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit works where there is faith in Christ to supply all.  There is a song, "He is all I need."  It's true.  If we experience failure or if we witness failure in a Christian’s life we must conclude the Holy Spirit was frustrated somehow and didn't do what He was sent to do.  The single thing I have found in all cases is where is your faith?

Here are some examples.  "I know Jesus is the Son of God.  I know he is my savior.  Even though I know this, I still struggle to overcome sin and other things."  "I know that man loved God and Jesus Christ.  What could have happened?"  The answer is... we or he or all of us took our eyes of Jesus Christ to supply our every need.

Some of us were convinced it was an accountability partner and we took our eyes of Jesus.  Some of us went into "freak out" mode, left Jesus behind and bulldozed our way through tough times, not without scratches.  Some of us were taught to pray more, study more and the list could go on and we put our faith in our doing over faith in Christ to supply the power we need.  I did not just say don't pray and don't study.  I said don't take your eyes of Jesus and put them on praying and studying.

Paul wrote to the Galatians, "Who has bewitched you."  In context Paul was stating, "Who told you you could be righteous by doing stuff (in your flesh)?"  Righteousness comes from faith in Jesus Christ.  Initially it is imputed and we are immediately justified in God's sight by that faith.  Then we find we still have a war going on inside us.  We want to do good but we proved our whole life we'd mess it up.  That is why we must maintain our faith in Christ for it all.  He already won the victory over sin in the flesh.  His power, the power that even raise Him from the dead is available to us.  That is in the Holy Spirit.  But, it operates by faith not doing or works.  The spark that provides the ignition is faith in Christ.

All those wonderful ideas people share with us have no power.  Even the law of God is Holy but is also powerless.  The power is in the Spirit of the Living God and that power is ignited by faith.  We can huff and puff and do everything man told us to do and learn over and over again we are powerless in the struggle.  But, by faith in Christ, we can be more the conquerors.

Here is my belief on the working of the Holy Spirit in one's life.  I came to this belief in an elementary level in 2008.  Nothing has changed since 2008 to change this belief.

I believe I am helpless to do anything to save myself.  When I came to that conclusion way back a long time ago, I trusted Jesus Christ as my savior.  At that very moment I felt light as if I would lift up off the ground and that everyone in the world would want that same feeling.  Over time something changed.  I no longer felt that way. People told me the new was just wearing off and a bunch more stuff.  My struggle to live for Christ landed me in a horrible situation.  I was in a pit I could not get out of.  Sin was everywhere and my life was not even close to what I had expected.  I wanted to kill myself.  In an act of desperation, I cried out to God and He heard me.

God sent me to a group of men who taught me things I had never clearly understood.  If you would have asked me if I understood them earlier in my life I would have said yes.  But, I only thought I understood them to my own endangerment.

Here is a quick view of what they taught me.  "Byron, when you came to Christ, you were helpless.  You knew you needed help and you couldn't save yourself.  Now Byron, let's look at you now.  If you were helpless to save yourself and needed Christ, what makes you so confident you can live your life as you think it should be lived? Basically, the only difference today from yesterday is God has saved you through His Son Jesus Christ and put Christ in you in the form of the Holy Spirit.  So Byron, you are still Byron.  You were helpless yesterday and you in and of yourself are still helpless today.  Here's the only difference Byron.  The Holy Spirit is in you.  God sent Him to live through you and teach you.  But, He can't help you if you don't keep your faith in Christ for everything.  Placing your faith in what you can do will stop the Holy Spirit working in you in the way you need Him to work.  We recommend you, that is in your mind, maintain an attitude of helplessness in yourself and ask God to lead, guide and direct your every move by the Holy Spirit.  That's how it works Byron.  The moment you turn to anything other than Christ, you frustrate the operation of the Holy Spirit in your life.

They told me that over 7 years ago.  I have tried to keep it simple since then.  I think of Peter walking on the water.  When he took his eyes of Christ, he sank.  Because of this, I'm not one to grab a hold of new ideas and ways of living.  The Holy Spirit is like my training wheels on my bicycle.  I'm scared to take them off.

In my travels I have the opportunity to visit with people.  Most people will state they believe every word of the bible yet, when they come face to face with one experiencing what the bible talked about, their initial reaction isn’t as if they have been waiting for the days to come to pass the bible spoke of.

Joel 2:28  And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

Here is a link to a 1996 vision about the United States being attacked by Russia and China.  Click here to view it.

In July of 2009 I dreamed I was blindfolded.  When the blindfold was removed, I saw teachers in a bible college.  End

Shortly afterwards, the Lord began to show me the error in their teaching.  He exposed them to me in a mighty way.   The first, “The baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues.”  They were preaching on that one night and the Lord hit me with a headache.  It was so severe I had to hold on to things in order to walk out.  I had to stop, hold on to a rail and my wife had to help me stay up after I exited the building.  She said, “You are not coming back!”  I said, “I know.”

Satan would immediately say, “Byron doesn’t believe in speaking in tongues.”  That is not the case.  I speak in tongues.  The error in the teaching is that, “If you don’t speak in tongues, you have not been baptized in the Holy Spirit.”  That is the error and the  reason the blindfold was taken off.

The second error of their teaching was, “The pre tribulation rapture teaching” that creates folks who say, “We will not be around for that.”  I have seen those who believe that and are on fire for the Lord.  But, I have seen entire regions in a carnal lukewarm state that rest on that teaching.  There are just too many scriptures that contradict that teaching and absolutely none that definitively support it.

The word rapture comes from latin.  Trace latin and one finds the Catholic church and the Jesuits.  I see it as a fingerprint left behind.  Let’s grab a word from Latin so everyone “on the inside” will know we did it.