Category Archives: rest and peace

by | January 28, 2012 · 2:06 pm

Spiritual Growth With the Holy Spirit: “We Must Lose to Gain”

What I have noticed over the years is that very often we don’t know that the Holy Ghost has been in our midst until after He has left the scene. For example,  a thought came into my head that I assumed was my own. The thought was, “how is it that you spiritually survive when you have lost so much that you depended on?” Immediately, I was reminded of the fact that for at least 25 years, my spiritual life was dependent upon people, places and things. By things, I mean “works” and “practices.” Among the people were those I pastored and the many ministers and members that I fellowshipped with, as well as two different husbands who I was compelled to divorce as well as family, friends and associates that I had to “cut loose”.

For me there was only one place: the church. I was in church constantly as a pastor, a member and a visitor. At times, I was in church as many as 6 days a week, hours at a time. Furthermore, I frequently visited other churches, several times a month. I also preached and taught in prison for almost 10 years. Among the things or “works” that I no longer do was my first love,— developing sermons and preaching. I practiced healing, deliverance ministry, weeping and wailing in intercession, aka, travailing, and speaking in tongues. I also moved in the “slain in the spirit” ministry, where people fell at the touch of my hand or at times, I waved my hand and some fell. I saw into the future regularly, experiencing supernatural experiences that I believed at the time were manifestations of each of the 9 gifts of the Holy Ghost.

I lost it ALL!

At the beginning of the century, with 9/11/01 as my target date of change, I had no idea that when I prayed “Lord, if there is any darkness around me, please expose it,” that practically EVERYTHING—people, places and things—would be exposed as filled with darkness and deception.

So when the thought came into my mind, “Pam, how do you live and survive today without all of that?” I had not yet come up with an answer, until my first client of the day asked me the very same question. So when she asked the very question that had just hit my own thoughts, I immediately realized that the Holy Ghost was using her to speak to me. Interestingly enough, as I counsel others, the Holy Ghost frequently uses contents of the session to have a ONE on one session with me!

I can’t recall in detail how I answered the question for it took practically the entire session to do so. However, what I recall is what the client said to me. She sounded, awed, or speechless when she replied, “Wow. Pam, you are really living for Christ because you have given up ALL for His sake.”

I was shocked by her words because since my losses are predominately religious in nature, I had not looked at them from that particular perspective. The conclusion that I had come to is that “every religious person or thing could be and was removed from me but I held on to ONE thing that could not be removed.

That ONE thing is my faith and assurance that I am saved, born again, and when all is said and done, my salvation is “enough.” Jesus Christ of Nazareth is enough for me. I have ceased from my own works and I rest in the Lord.

However, how does one arrive at such a place within his or her spiritual walk?  The e-book “Recovery In Christ”is stocked with answers. (Click the title link for a preview.)

RIC contains the 7 R's of Fruitbearing

It is not easy—at first. As the writer of Hebrews declares, “one must LABOR or struggle to enter into the Lord’s rest” (Hebrews: 4) The familiar expression: no pain, no gain does not really ring true in the spirit.. The remarkable thing is that like giving birth in the natural, once the labor and struggle of delivery has been achieved, you simply can’t remember the pain.For example, I do not recall the pain of walking away from not one husband, but two. Once I realized that they were both sent from the devil to destroy me and hinder my walk in the spirit with the Lord, the pain was minimized, to say the least!

Once God revealed to me that sermonizing was not from Him but that it is merely a man-made art, I can no longer recall the pain of not doing something that I had grown to love. Once one has actually ENTERED the Lord’s rest, than obedience is in no way painful. Loss is not painful either. You simply “move on” and live once you have “entered in.”.That is why I didn’t use the title, no PAIN no gain. I simply cannot recall the pain of losing so much. However,with each loss, I experience the gain of a new revelation. Fruit just grows without much effort these days.

If you would like a coach to help you bear fruit in your Christian walk, we have a mentor for YOU.  Call 518-477-5759

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by | January 9, 2012 · 10:23 am

Finding The Peace of God in Troubled Times

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “Let the God of peace fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 15:13 )To the Colossians,Paul wrote “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.” (Col 3:15)  Yet there is such a thing as a false peace. I just watched Oprah’s interview of Joel Osteen, and what manifested clearly is a false peace  by a self-proclaimed blessing. Although he took a stronger stand on the Lord as the only way to the Father than he has in the past,  Osteen hesitated with tongue in cheek as he made it clear that homosexuality is a sin.Yet he equated sodomy on a  par  with “telling a lie or being proud.”

  When  Osteen struggled to not offend anyone and   he told  a huge  tv audience that homosexuals shall go to heaven,  he detracted from the word of God.  Paul wrote and warned the Corinthian believers that effeminates shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Does inheriting  the kingdom equate to “going to heaven?” Not completely, but it certainly is a part of the overall package. To be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD “IN HEAVEN” while He remains there. Consequently, Osteen has sent out a platitude  of a” false peace.”Commonsense ought to tell Osteen that  since  God destroyed Sodom primarily because of homosexual activity, it’s a sin far more damning than a lie or pride.. To not be truthful with the gay community is in itself, a lie. Along these same lines, when preachers expound on the escape of a lukewarm, deluded Laodicean age through a pre-tribulation rapture or messages that uphold financial prosperity for all, a  false peace prevails.

Yet when the evil day comes, we will need the peace of God to rule. In this country, we have the expectation that happiness is ours by our American birthright, so we are in constant pursuit of it, particularly on the weekend.  I should spell it “weak end.” Many are speeding in  cars, fighting  in parking lots and pushing forward in various malls and supermarkets, with dentist appointments, diets,  vacations, manicures, gyms, and restaurants on our minds.  The irony is that as a nation in pursuit of happiness, “our weak end” is that we find no peace.

Moreover,  there is coming a day when all of our material comforts shall fail us and the fundamentals of food, water and shelter shall ascend in priority.  I know because I have seen it in the spirit.What usually causes us to lose peace is a lack of understanding that leads to confusion. In other words, what we don’t know brings stress. Therefore, in 2012, I offer a few points that will help you to let the peace of God reign.

  1. Learn how to thank God for “the answer.” The answer might be that “you will not get an answer in the way that you expected.”We must wait for the Lord’s answer in peace. Very often, the Lord has already given us the answer but we did not hear Him because we were too preoccupied and consequently, too stressed. We cry “speak to me, Lord” and He has already spoken.
  2. Learn how to stop trying to figure Him out. Most believers have a misunderstanding of prayer because they have been led by false doctrine and habitual expressions like “prayer changes things.” God does not need our prayers for Him to act.  We do not control God with our prayers.  Prayer changes us, not things.  Prayer is what brings the peace of God that confounds human understanding.  Prayer does not change God.  Most of the time, we do not know God’s will.  When we don’t, then we need to pray and ask Him to reveal His will.  Once His will is revealed in a particular situation, then peace will automatically rule in our spirits.
  3. Learn how to walk in the light as He is in the light.  I have an expression that brings me peace.  It goes “TO KNOW, BOW LOW.” When the brightness of the gospel falls upon us, we should immediately prostrate ourselves under His light and declare “Lord, I accept your sentence. I agree with your judgment. I seek mercy in this matter.” Meekness before God will prepare you to receive light, revelation or in other word, “enlightenment.” Enlightenment leads to deliverance and deliverance brings forth discernment, wisdom and freedom.  A humble gay or lesbian will receive light by resisting pride in all its forms, particularly gay pride.  if he or she “bows low, they will KNOW!”

In the New Year, many google for prophecies because they have no peace in uneasy times. A wet blanket of worry, fear and stress has fallen on multitudes of professing Christians who search the web for a prophetic messages. Since they are reading the signs of the times, believers are looking for confirmation and assurances that we will make it beyond December 21, 2o12. In the New Idolatry you will find these words:”Doubt can be a good thing, particularly when those fictitious, religious foundations upon which a captive has built his pride system become shaky.”

Yet in the final analysis, the message that should give you peace is both spiritually historic, prophetic and biblical. Simply put, if you be in Christ, He has already spoken peace to your troubled spirit  when He he prophesied that “if you endure to the end, you shall be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

This ministry is about preparing the elect of God to “endure to the end,” through publications, deliverance counseling, deliverance mentoring, and deliverance training. Ours is a Christ centered, a spiritual warfare and a spiritual empowerment strategy.  So our help is available to you. Send an email to pamsheppard911@yahoo.com or call 518-477-5759.

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by | October 10, 2011 · 11:43 pm

HOW TO TAKE BACK YOUR PEACE!

According to Hebrews 4, entering the Lord’s rest is labor or in other words “work.” 

Yet, the irony is that we enter in by “ceasing from our own works.”  I believe that  we struggle or “labor”  to enter in for one main reason.   The enemy knows that in order to keep us defeated, he has to block our way by  stealing  both our joy, peace and our rest. So strategically, demonic entities have   designed three main  styles of deception.  Demons revel in depression, oppression and vexation of spirit because these three (3) emotional conditions are open doors to relapse during the restoration process.

Pam Sheppard, A licensed therapist for 38 years.

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Depression is spiritually nurtured by a poor sense of esteem, dissatisfaction, and alienation—each rooted in a lack of patience.  Evil spirits thrive on the three “d’s” of doubt, disappointment and despair to lower our physical energy and vitality. Their method is to entangle weeds of negative thoughts, emotions and attitudes into a stronghold or spiritual underground root system that develops into a solid fortress or base of operation from which demons can function unhindered. 


Condemnation and accusations are central to the guilt experienced by the depressed.y to rest and peace.  Oppression brings a sense of being smothered or weighed down with the burdens of a troubled, problematic life.  In such cases, the demon assigned to oppress you is by metaphor a “monkey on the back”, hovering around and pressing you down with a persistent attack, until your spiritual back breaks and you fall or “relapse”.  At times sudden and shocking, the demon will apply a steady and relentless attack with persecution and disarming calamities of all sorts.

Vexation of spirit ALSO takes several forms.  Restlessness can lead to a feeling of annoyance or irritability.  In this regard, evil spirits will employ sequentially ordered petty harassments to
cause worry and a disquieted state, akin to mild or even acute stages of paranoia.  In the mental realm, vexation also brings confusion and disorientation.  The demonic weapons of choice are fear and intimidation.  Demons will use others close to us to create situations that incite our emotions.  The
agitation we feel may become so intense that we might literally react compulsively and consequently lose control.

Attempting to control ourselves  with human will power alone is an exhausting struggle  that Satan will ultimately win.  We need to humble ourselves to the fact that human will power cannot outlast Satan’s power.  However,  when we are able to rest in Christ by ceasing from our own works,  the Holy Spirit  empowers our spirits with strength that exceeds the capacity of our will.  Ceasing from our own works  will enable us to walk in the spirit and not fulfill the lust of our flesh without much effort because we have sought the kingdom and found righteousness. 

The evil spirit’s goal is to take advantage of  and condemn us for what we have been trained to perceive as  past failures, coupled with  worry and fear over the consequences we may face for our actions, causing us to cry over spilt milk.  The demons are skilled at maneuvering  the perceived failures  to motivate a setback. Deliverance counseling can help you to place the past on the dung heap and press forward to the victory that truth brings. 

However, when we are ignorant of Satanic devices, evil spirits can and DO repetitively and consistently employ the same strategies to defeat us, over and over again=== simply because we are ignorant to the fact that whatever failures and mistakes  used by  the devil  to destroy us, God uses it ALL to employ us!”

A perceived failure is just another opportunity to struggle to “enter into His rest.” Once you’ve entered, the struggle is over!  Satan won’t completely give up on you.   However, once you become an overcomer,
you will find the enemy consistently “on the run.”

More help is available at www.pamsheppard.com/online_ministers_available

For deliverance training go to www.pamsheppard.com/sign_up_now


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