Sid Roth - Do This NOW to Feel God's Presence Instantly
I read a book many years ago about a monk. His name was Brother Lawrence. It so captivated me, I couldn't put it down. The monk's job was dishwasher. That's his full-time job, but in this lowly job he developed such intimacy with God that royalty wanted to be in his presence. He literally lived in what the Bible refers to as the secret place, 24-7. He radiated the presence of God. Then I finished the book, and I was very, very disappointed. He didn't tell me how to get into the presence of God. He didn't tell me how to get into the secret place. My guests live in this secret place, 24-7, and they want to tell you how.
Sid Roth: Welcome, Holy Spirit. We recognize that You are here right now. This is Your platform. Take over! This is Your show. Now my guests, Drs. Dennis and Jen Clark, have spent years cultivating and teaching thousands on how to live in the manifest presence of God, walk in wholeness, hear God clearly and have their prayers answered. Dr. Jen, what was your background before you even met Dennis?
Jen Clark: I was a certified Christian counselor, a degree in psychology. So those were credentials, but I was a very frustrated Christian.
Sid Roth: Why?
Jen Clark: Because I was in the church and working in counseling, working with people who were troubled, and I just didn't see people change much as maybe with salvation, but then I saw people who were wounded, and one friend had a nervous breakdown. People would answer altar calls, go to Christian counselors, and I didn't see them getting better.
Sid Roth: I guess you would call a counselor had a prognosis for your future. What was that?
Jen Clark: Right, she was my mentor. She was also a Christian counselor, and I found out later after Dennis and I were married that she had recommended to him that he not marry me because she said I was too emotionally damaged to ever amount to anything in Christianity because unless you're pretty well-adjusted when you get saved, you're limited.
Sid Roth: That's pretty sad. So you went to a meeting. You were an intercessor. Your husband had died. Dennis went to that meeting.
Jen Clark: And they had us all in a room praying, and suddenly a young woman had an emotional meltdown and ended up on the floor, writhing, crying, holding her head, and I thought to myself, "Right there on the floor, 5 to 10 years of counseling".
Sid Roth: And, Dennis, you didn't think anything of it, I'll bet. That was normal.
Jen Clark: Well, listen to what happened. We were standing there. Everybody was just staring at her, and Dennis went over to her and got down on one knee, and he started praying with her. He was praying. Emotional strongholds were coming down. Demonic activity was just flying off because you deal with the negative emotion that gives it ground, and that woman was getting free, and in less than 10 minutes she was up on her feet with the Holy Spirit all over her, a smile on her face, and I thought, "This is huge. This could mean so much for the church worldwide. If... The church could be healed if they knew this".
Sid Roth: So long story short, you two get married. And, Dennis, you take her through what God has taught you. She gets totally free of something the psychiatrist said there's no hope for, but you live in a secret place, 24-7. How did you learn way back... You did the same thing I did. You read Brother Lawrence's book.
Dennis Clark: Right.
Sid Roth: Tell me about him.
Dennis Clark: Well, I saw this was a monk that lived in the 1600s, that washed dishes for a living, but he practiced the presence of God. Everything was coming out of the love of God and out of that nature of God, and it was consistent. And I understood what he was doing and experienced it, but I didn't hear other people talk about the same thing. And the primary thing I got out of his... or my spirit really witnessed was he doesn't go in and out of prayer! It's a special time and all the time, and that's what the Holy Spirit had taught me as a baby Christian in the school of the Spirit. I wanted to go to 12 different Bible schools, and God said, "No, school of the Spirit first, and I'm going to teach you things," and to this day, it's proved to be the foundation for everything that we teach and preach now.
Sid Roth: Well, after you got married, you took about 60 days for this transformation in your wife, and you put this in of course, and what works for her, what worked for you, what works for everyone. Jen told me that her big problem, and you told me the same thing, was she believed sincerely in her mind, but she didn't know how to get it into her heart, and I happen to believe that most believers have that identical problem. And I know that I had it, and I still have it. So tell me all about that.
Dennis Clark: Well, we're going to pray for you. I'll give you an example. I was traveling with a team of pastors, 15 or so pastors, right, from different parts of Canada and the States, and we went to this church in Canada that has probably 300 people, and they were passing the microphone around to the different preachers. They handed it to me. I said, "I want everyone here who feels unspiritual, even though you're in church, and you feel like you're hard to receive". I had, out of that 300, I had 18 people come over in the corner a ways. "I never know what's going on. I don't understand this. I guess I'm a head person, but I'm not spiritual". In less than 5 minutes, I had all 18 either sensing the peace of God like they had never done before or cried or were intoxicated in the Spirit, 18 out of 18, and the key was, other pastors came up, and they go, "You'll never catch me doing that, asking for those people". And then another one said, "How did you do that"? And it was getting them from their head to the heart. It's like real estate: location, location, location! We have to change the location if it's not working for you because you all have the same equipment.
Sid Roth: Now, Jen, after you had the ministry from your husband, Dennis, you met your former counselor again. What happened?
Jen Clark: She looked at me. Her eyes got big, and she said, "What happened to you"? I was that transformed. I could hardly remember the person that I had been before.
Sid Roth: Describe that person just for a moment.
Jen Clark: I was wounded, defeated, hurting, anxious. I was so anxious, and I lived with low-grade anxiety, and of course we know that Brother Lawrence walked in peace. Well, that's the... Jesus gave us His Peace. That's the way we're supposed to live. That's the way we know we're abiding in the body, that we're connected in the secret place with Him because we sense His Presence. We sense His Peace, and this is what Dennis taught me. I know I got a lot of woundings. I'm healed, that's true, but the main thing, I was hungry for God. I'd read the books. I'd read Brother Lawrence. I'd read "Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians," and I wanted to live like that, and that's what Dennis taught me to do. He taught me to go to the secret place and live out of the secret place.
Sid Roth: Few believers know the difference between earthly forgiveness which is a long-term process and Heavenly forgiveness which is instant. Be right back.
Sid Roth: So, Dennis, I want you to show us briefly how you got your wife from her head to her spirit. Please explain to us what you're doing and then actually demonstrate it.
Dennis Clark: First of all, I had her close her eyes. The average person, when they close their eyes, they can go to prayer easier. Then I had her put her hand on her belly because I want her to distance it from the blood pumper. So even without words. So I would say, "Jennifer, right down there, Jesus, your Jesus came in there, and He's in your heart," and when I got her to quiet that noisy flesh, I said, "There. That peace, that's your Messiah. That's your Jesus, the Prince of Peace. There, you're touching Him right now". Once I had that point of reference given to her, it was all done. It's not hard as what people think. People think forgiveness is a process, forgiveness is difficult, when in reality if you're forgiving from the Bible heart, from here, it's instant just like salvation. It's absolutely no different than salvation. You didn't have to struggle or wait. When you got born again, you did it here, and you received that forgiveness. It changes to peace, and that is your assurance. That is your title deed that you've got. It's not only forgiveness for someone. It's hurt, fear, lust, anger, guilt, shame. All of those things did not enter humans until after the Fall. Prior to that, they walked in the Garden in the cool of the day with the God emotions. They walked in the fruit of the Spirit. We want to return to a walk, and that's John 15, abiding in the vine. We want to walk in the Spirit. So we call those, hurt, fear, lust, anger, guilt, shame, hell flags.
Sid Roth: I think this is fascinating. Dennis teaches children how to get in touch with their spirit. Would you demonstrate it the way you would do it for a child to drop it into your spirit?
Dennis Clark: The thing you need to see is how effective going to your spirit is with children, better than adults even. I could show you on Jennifer because I had to do it with her even though she's not a child, and it was, first of all, if you could just get, with children, we use Bucketman, but I use Bucketman with Jennifer, too, and she's well above genius IQ. No, don't get upset, but I have to have her do one thing right off the bat. Close your eyes, Jennifer. Once... She's a mind person, and I had to say, "Now, you're thinking in your head, but I want you to put your hand on your belly, and now we're going to make you like a well. All right"? And we know the scripture says, "Out of your belly will flow rivers of living water". Okay, here's what I want you to do. I want you to allow that bucket, which is focus, to change from your head, and let that bucket go down to where the living water is. You see she's smiling already. So your spirit is bearing witness to the peace and the joy that's down there. Ah, you like that. See, from this point on, the bucket went down, and the goal is now that I want to stay there. You've connected with God in you, and that peace you feel is His Presence, and it's His Lordship. And little children, they love this because they get so emotionally involved in things that are going on, but when they feel that peace, it gets addictive, and I'm going, "If you feel trouble down there or something, you let Jesus down there take care of that trouble," and you'll see a countenance change. I say... And one of the ways to really do this, even children, they're hard on themselves. We will teach them how to receive forgiveness from the Forgiver in you until it changes to peace, and invariably, even though their eyes are closed, a smile will come on their face. This young boy missed an entire week of school because during the summer, and school is starting, but he had accidentally fell while playing with his pet rabbit, and it broke its neck. He was devastated. The parents let him stay home because he was just depressed. He couldn't go to school. He shows up for the school the same day Jennifer and I are doing a seminar at the school. So I get the third graders, and the teacher told me what happened, and he just sat like a lump in the chair, and she told me what happened. So I said, "Did anybody have something bad happen to them"? And he raised his hand. I said, "Come on up here," and we're using Bucketman. We had a picture of Bucketman. It was like an old well with a crank and the rope and the bucket going down. I says, "Where did it hurt"? And he went, "Down here it hurt," which is the seat of the emotions. And I says, "I want you to let... Do you have Jesus in your heart"? He go, "Mm-hmm". "I want you to let Jesus, I want you to receive forgiveness for thinking you were a murderer. Jesus doesn't see you as that". He got an instant smile on his face while his eyes were closed. As you received Him, walk the same way. That leads us into, how do I stay there?
Sid Roth: How do you?
Dennis Clark: Yeah, is that you've fall in love with the forgiveness message, and here's the way the Lord spoke it to me when He was training me. "Dennis, don't let anything come between what you and I have together," and that meant spirit-to-spirit peace and the rule of God. Anything that distracted me or caused me to lose my peace, I instantly ran back and dealt with it, even if it was temptation alone. Sometimes I would receive forgiveness for even the mere giving into the temptation momentarily, and that peace kept me connected with Him, and the thing that really stood out is I moved in a lot of the gifts over the years, but there are flashes of insight. What we're talking about here in the secret place is abiding and staying there. What would you rather have, a fluctuation with seeing and hearing, or would you like to touch constantly?
Sid Roth: Feel that bubbling constantly.
Dennis Clark: Feel that constantly.
Sid Roth: That's what I would like.
Dennis Clark: Yeah, that's really what He was telling me. He says, "Dennis, you can consistently, constantly touch. Everything else is intermittent". What do you want? You want intermittent, or you want an abundant life of a moment-by-moment relationship like Brother Lawrence had?
Sid Roth: What you're describing is normal. The first step for you to be normal, the very first step is for you to know that Jesus is living inside of you. Repeat this prayer after me, mean it to the best of your ability, out loud: "Dear God. I've made many mistakes. For which I'm so sorry. I believe. The Blood of Jesus. Washes away all those mistakes. And You remember them no more. And I'm clean. And now that I'm clean. Jesus, come and live inside of me. I make You my Savior. Amen". Dennis and Jennifer, I'd like you to pray for... I want you to come up with one person you need to forgive, and I want you to lead us in forgiveness.
Dennis Clark: Okay.
Jen Clark: So close your eyes.
Dennis Clark: As a matter of fact, if it helps, put your hand on your belly.
Jen Clark: Go to your spirit.
Dennis Clark: And every person that you see in your mind has a corresponding emotion. Every thought has a corresponding emotion, even if you can't describe it. It's not the peace of God. So you let Jesus in you. This is the new creation you, joined together with the Lord. You and Jesus together, by the Spirit, are releasing forgiveness right through the yuck, while you're picturing the person that you're forgiving and down in the gut, when it changes to peace. You did it. Now, "Test the Spirit," the scripture says. So that I don't have to do that again and again and again and struggle with it, picture that same person in an attitude of prayer, and if you feel nothing, there was a supernatural exchange or a supernatural transaction, and nobody can take that peace away from you, and what's happened is it... You've heard people say, "Forgive and forget". You forget down in your spirit because you're clean, but the record, the historical record remains intact in your mind, and that's for our instruction. We don't want to... David was a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. Well, we know David has a history, but we also know that he was washed clean. So the Heavenly record in your spirit is washed clean. Should anything test your spirit to see if it feels clean from any person that you've judged in the past but know this. What they did in the past, this forgive and forget, the only place it's forgotten is in your spirit, in the Heavenly record. The historical record, don't try to play amnesia. God is not an amnesiac. He knows your history, but without the pain, you now have testimony.
Sid Roth: But how can you know, in other words, you're getting rid of that negative emotion towards the person.
Jen Clark: Yes.
Sid Roth: The historical thing happened. You can't change that.
Dennis Clark: That happen. You can't change that.
Sid Roth: But you can be free.
Dennis Clark: Yep.
Jen Clark: Yes, instantly.
Sid Roth: It's so good to be free. This is what our Messiah said. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free". In every area of your life, in Yeshua's Name, I speak liberty. I speak freedom. Amen.