Leon Fontaine - Harnessing The Power Within
In Psalm 139, is a verse no one believes, rarely. In verse 14, it says, "I will praise You for I am fearfully and wonderfully made". You know, the religion tells you, "Yeah, you're just a good for nothing low down, sinful, little nothing. That, yeah, be thankful God even looks at you. You just like disgusting". And so church is place of, um, just, we think humility is thinking little of our self. But that's not humility. And here it says, and the psalmist is saying, "I'm fearfully made. I'm wonderfully made". And then it says, "And that my soul knows well". Your soul knows it. I wonder if it's coming to your conscious mind. That deep within you there is this knowing that you're made for greatness. You're made for significance. I don't mean the world system of everybody trying to be the number one.
And everybody thinks wherever you work, the goal is to keep rising up till you're in some kind of a positional leadership in a company, in a business. No, no, no. Wherever you are and whatever you do. You are wonderfully made. And then when it says you are fearfully made, here's something that few Christians understand. You? You're dangerous. You're dangerous. You need to harness and learn that inside of you is power. Inside of you, you could turn bad, really bad. But you need to know that you are designed to be like Jesus. And that your influence, the giftedness that has been placed within you is designed to rise up in this world. When you take a look at, you know, you shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you. When you look in the Greek at that word power, it literally means that you have inherent power that you released at will. Isn't that interesting?
And it even lists the six areas of power. This word means something of God's Word goes beyond that and it's stunning to see how everyone of us are fearfully and wonderfully made. It's time to ignore religion. I hate religion. Man-made rules of judging one another, belittling one another, making it so hard to even think that God loves us or cares about us or forgives us. And we create this religiosity that we're so pompous in our humility as, you know, good. Every time, you know, it's so often if I get complaints from somebody, it's going to be that because I'm confident. I must be proud. Isn't that interesting? That religion considers you, if you're going to be a confident person, that that's arrogant. It's not. But religion? Oh, man. It'll dish it out. It'll destroy the gifts within you, limit who you are. It won't even let you know that your fearfully made, wonderfully made. That ahead of you is a, an incredible future. And religion will just, That's the enemy's trick. At the top of religion is the devil.
Someone says... Just a minute, just a minute. My definition of religion is manmade religion and rules. That you have to earn everything. That is not the gospel. And when God made people, He made them so unique. And I haven't, I'm not going to teach on this, but you need to know. You have been given autonomy. You have a freewill that God will never violate. You have choice. He's created this world to be one of free enterprise. He says, "Go into the world," in the book of Genesis, and He says, "And subdue and have dominion over". And it does not list other people. No human being on the planet has been given the power to dominate or to manipulate or to have dominion over other people. It says the fish of the sea, birds of the air, animals that walk and those that creep. So even creeps we have dominion. But it says we don't dominate other people.
So we need to recognize that God is not controlling you. In fact, if you choose to not accept Christ as your Saviour, He will not or actually cannot change you and take you to heaven because I just feel sorry for you. Because you have been made in His likeness and in His image. And your autonomy, this individuality, this freedom of choice is so powerful. He's given His word and He made you the way you are and He won't. And even if He try to take you to heaven because you didn't accept Him but oh, well, we'll make an exception. You can't exist in the presence of God because you as a spirit, you don't have that purity of righteousness. It's like trying to say, "That ice cube should go into the fire". Even if it doesn't want to, it just can't exist. This believing is so crucial. You get to choose your beliefs. You get to choose what you put your faith in. You don't get what God wants for you. You get what you believe. And this is a crucial and important thing to understand.
Today, I could go in so many directions. But I want to pick one thing and I want to talk about this. I want to talk and explain to you the sixth sense that you have right now. Everybody here has five senses, taste, touch, smell, see, hear. And your brain memorizes everything you've ever heard right back in the womb. Your smells and what came from that smell right back down into your birth and on. Everything you've ever smelt and what it means to you is been memorized. Everything you've ever heard. Which is why a certain song reminds you of some dance you went to as a young person and who know. Every, all the five senses are completely indelibly imprinted in the memory banks of your brain. Though it's not all the information coming in that's important. It's the interpretation and the focus and the working of that information together, to help you to grow, understand, etcetera. And so we need to understand that although you have five senses that are indelibly imprinted on your brain. That you have a sixth sense that is not attached to your brain.
The Bible says the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord searching all the inward parts of the belly. Meaning that the word "candle" there means flashlight. It says the spirit of man, not your brain, not your body, not your emotions. The spirit of man is the candle. The flashlight of the Lord. He will guide your future for you and speak to you and direct you. And it says and you're going to get the direction not from here, not from your emotions, not from what your body desires. You're going to get it from where the belly is felt and sensed. I have a lot of business friends and many of them that don't know Christ but are very successful. And when I speak with them, they'll tell me things like, "Well, I've got a good education here, or they were apprenticed by somebody over there".
There's many ways to gain information. But they said, "I've learned, don't go against your gut". And everybody here had sensed their gut at different times. Maybe you met somebody. You're not going to babysit my kids, not a chance. Or don't hire that guy, or when you went against that the grief that came into your business, or don't date that girl. She's trouble. And you did. Don't even go for coffee with that guy. Holy Spirit, oh, let's just put aside Holy Spirit for a minute. You as a human being without Christ have a body, a soul, and a spirit. And your spirit is only contained within your body. It cannot know what's going on in Africa. According to the Word only Holy Spirit is omnipresent or everywhere. But your spirit senses and knows things. And so even people who deny Christ, if they learn to develop this sixth sense, they can make business decisions, hiring decisions, etcetera, at a higher level.
Now, you take someone and you get them born again, where they believe on Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. And He comes in and He protects you. And His Spirit just, it comes alive, and you have a life and a joy and a peace. Now you have an incredible ability to sense and know things not just in your present location but around the world because Holy Spirit is with you. He knows what your son's doing in Toronto. He knows what your mom and dad are doing somewhere and He knows everything. And He is here according to John chapter 16, read verse 13 and on. He's here to show you things, to reveal things to you. Jesus said to His disciples there, He said there's things I want to show you but you can't absorb them yet. You can't handle them yet. And so as you develop and grow, you can hone this sixth sense. Everybody has it. Children have it. I've watched our kids when they were really young. And you know what, and they would go readily to some. They'd be cautious with others.
And there be some that they were just, not a chance. And it might be because they were attacked by a brown haired person in a blue shirt. Yes. But other times, you were kind of sensing something. You, you need to develop this sixth sense. Now I'm not using Bible language because we all go to sleep when I use terms what we think we all know. But this sixth sense is up to you to develop. And when you develop it, you don't have to ever be wrong. You say, "Leon, come on"! The Bible says that the prophet Samuel not one word ever fell to the ground. And you know that when you look at people with the Spirit of God is upon them. You can know things, sense things. You won't know everything. The Bible says that there are secret things this planet will never know. But then there are things that are revealed to us and there's always enough information in the Word and through Holy Spirit to live a life that's amazing.
If you learn to listen to Holy Spirit, He will guide you. And there are time, I make most of my decisions in my five senses. I learned management and I'm learning leadership. And I've learned understanding people and all the prince... and so you just, you use your five senses to study, to interpret, to judge situations, and you make decisions. But the smart people always once they're about to make a decision and they've studied. They've analyzed. They've got the positives and negatives. They got what everybody thinks. They don't allow censorship in their life. They want to know who's for, who's against. And then they'll take a step back from the five senses and they kind of go, "How do I feel about this"? Often I tell people, it's like going down a runway. If you're a pilot, and I'm not. But as you go down the runway, there is a spot of no return. You're getting close to the end of the runway, and if you don't pull up, you're going to crash. If you try to break, you're going to crash.
There's no hope but pulling up, launch. And so I often if I don't know, I'll go down the runway of making a decision. You know, what you're going to do in this situation, that situation. And I'm learning and I'm looking at things. And at some point, you know, you could still stop. So I'll analyze. But I'm always trying to be aware of what I'm sensing on the inside. Now, the way to practice that, a one quick way is that every time you make a decision, do this. You know, analyze, talk to people, get wisdom, do all the things that we should do. And then just step back, "Okay, God, aside from all the things I've learned. You know the future. You know what's going to happen to the economy. You know what's going to happen to healthcare, to governments. And so if I make this decision, do I feel good about this"?
You say, "Leon, I don't get anything". Well, just keep doing it. Do with this every decision that you make, and maybe make a note of it somewhere. And you take your phone, ah, you know. Here July 22, I made a decision to do this. And, you know, I think it's wise. I don't know if I feel good about this or not. And as you just practice, you're going to become very aware of a red light, a green light, or I don't feel good about it here. And you can develop this sixth sense. Now, you need to as well recognize that Holy Spirit has information. He'll guide you to the right person, to the dreams in your life. One of the things I do is I like to daydream. I study each day and I'll spend time in the Word. And there's times I'll just look at the future and I'll try to dream out of the box. Where are we going? I'll try to superimpose what I'm seeing in the present and what I've learned in the past, and I'll try to superimpose that on the future. Just think about it. Just daydream about it.
And that's where you'll see patterns and you'll think. And something will rise up within me. And it's amazing how it stops you from just playing it safe all the time. You know, not going to, I don't ever want to feel uncomfortable. Those are the people who do nothing with their lives. I'm not talking about an uncomfortableness where you don't feel I should make the decision. I mean, you should live in an uncomfortableness that says I need to be learning new things, experimenting, and trying new things. I mean, within morality in the Word of God. So that you can get up and learn and develop. If you don't, you'll just stay where you are. You are fearfully made. You are wonderfully made. And when you begin to recognize that, you begin to realize that He will guide me. He'll help me to dream, to daydream. I've found a comfort in an amazing peace and knowing that He'll never leave me and never forsake me. And when a storm is brewing in my future or I see it coming at me. God is not in the storm. He's with me. And you need to get that assurance. That you cannot fail when God is with you.
In the Old Testament, anytime that phrase, "And the Lord was with them". Never a failure. And so as we recognize this. It's crucial. There's two things I was going to talk about today. And that is first is the development of fellowshipping with Holy Spirit. Now fellowshipping with Holy Spirit in the Greek is "Koinonia". And that does not mean talking to Him once in a while. It's talking about best friends. It's like when you get done working and you're going through something and who do you want to talk to? Your best friend and you grab a cup of coffee or in a backyard or in a coffee and you just start to talk. And you're back and forth, and there's this transference that takes place of encouragement and accepting one another and laughing and believing and correcting one another and speaking. That there's laugh, this Koinonia, this fellowship. And it says you're to have that with Holy Spirit. But the other thing that you've got to make sure that you do, is to renew your mind with the way God thinks.
You see, you think like your parents. You think like your grandparents. So I would never do like parents. I know you don't want to do all the mistakes they made. But you will find that all beliefs are time sensitive. And you'll find that once you get married new beliefs get released. Once you have kids new beliefs get released. Once you get married new fights get released. Once you have kids new fights get released. Once you have money new fights get released. As belief systems clash, and marriage is all about control until people figure it out. It's who's going to control the other. And so that's why we got all this different phrase. For some guy that his wife just controls him. Some wife, that she is just a controlled wife. God never designed marriage for one to control the other because the giftedness of both will cause that marriage to go to ten times the success in every arena. If you'll find the giftedness and the fearfully wonderfully made.
As you take the thoughts of God which are the Bible. They're the thoughts of God. And then there are stories that go through the old covenant to the new covenant. And as you recognize what Jesus did from the cross to the throne, you must replace wrong thinking. Now, you don't just get your beliefs from your parents. You get your beliefs that, from the judgments you made as a child. I remember in grade 4, and the things that went on as they found out I was a preacher's kid in the school that I went to, and the harassment I got for being a preacher's kid. And what they said and what they did and they wouldn't pick me on their teams. Oh, and the stuff that went on. And I made a judgment that I'm the last pick on every baseball team. Nobody wants to be my friend. So being a Christian, I guess, is to be the low-end. It's to be not successful. And I make this judgment as a child. That if I don't deal with as an adult, I live out my childhood judgments.
Now, that's an idiotic way to live. But every one of us, and according to psychologist will tell you, that the beliefs you have about yourself, the world, about sexuality, are all determined at a young age before you even go to school. And so about your identity beliefs. And so what's powerful about God's Word according to Hebrews 4:12, is it that as you meditate on God's Word, Holy Spirit will use the Word and He'll removed, He'll do surgery on the deepest part of your belief system. And He'll move out the sense of, "I'm not good. I'm not there". And all of this stuff and your self-worth and your identity. You see, if you want to be healed, your identity needs to be the healed. If you want to prosper financially, your identity needs to be, I am a successful man or woman. It's the identity. The beliefs are so powerful. They affect your identity and that is where faith works. Most of the church doesn't understand faith. They just think if you know the Word and you choose to believe the Word, that it should work. It doesn't do anything for most people. But when you fellowship with Holy Spirit and He begins to reveal the Word to you. It affects the deepest thinking of your heart.
There's just something about the Word of God that it like. Jesus is not the poodle of Judah. He's the lion of Judah. And so as you dive into God's Word, I'm challenging you today. There will be an ability to know and to sense what to do in the areas that you struggle. And when we don't know what to do, we always look for someone to make the decision for us. That you feel has more knowledge and wisdom. Now, I always gather knowledge and wisdom from this doctor, then I want a second opinion. And then I'm going to go study as well, and see what they're doing in other countries. I'm, you know, we've got the incredible things at our disposal to learn. If you try to censor me, I'm already ticked off. You don't censor a human being. They've got to make decisions for themselves, their marriages, their kids, their future, their finances, or healthcare. Censorship is one of the greatest evils on the planet. I want to know who's for it and who's against. I want to hear their arguments.
We used to love that when we watched TV and we had a brilliant scientist from this area. And then we , and then they sit down and just begin to talk to each other so we could make wise decisions. So I'm all for, all I'm saying is I'm all for the gathering of information. But I have learned, as so many my age have, that if you want to continue to rise up, to do things you've never seen before, you've never done before, to live life with this sense of victory and excitement. Then know that you're fearfully and wonderfully made. And know that there are no limits that have been set over top of you. Get up and live that way. Get up and just day dream. Get up and trust God. And if you can change the beliefs of your heart, but it's Holy Spirit who'll do that with you, through getting into the Word and fellowship with Holy Spirit. And I'm telling you, your life will radically change. You'll know who to hire, what not to invest, where to move, where not to move, how to handle this situation, how to say no over there.
When everybody says, "Bwok, bwok, bwok". You go, "No, thanks. Not me". And when everyone's against you, rather than just go with the flow. You just say, "Hey, you know, you guys have a right to make your decisions. I've made this one". Let's give each other the freedom to have our own beliefs, our own autonomy, our own freedom of choice, and accept and love people for that. And, yes, we're going to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. But not in a way that's trying to control people, call people down. But in a way that just says, "I want you to meet the most amazing man I've ever met. He's the Son of God. His name is Jesus". And then as you just share, you leave it up to Holy Spirit and them. And whatever decision they make, you respect them anyway. You love them. You value them. You care about them. We are not here to dominate people. Wherever a leader dominates. I don't care if it's church, government, health, that is the wrong spirit. You've got a flawed leader and he's. We want to know.