by Todd Casselberry
The Road to Bethel
Our journey here began about 2 ½ years ago when we noticed our son Haven, hadn’t started to crawl yet. He was about 7 months old and so full of life. The doctors did not have any answers, only foreboding guesses.
About this time, our friend told us of a place called ‘Bethel’ where God still did miracles. I had always wondered where miracles went. I was only familiar with such stories in far away lands. We heard the testimonies, and the testimonies brought Hope. Our healing journey began.
I had heard the message of this House that ‘God is good’ and although we knew this theology, we quickly realized the areas of our life that had to be transformed if we really believed this. We later heard that ‘God was in a good mood’, was this really true? Always? I soon realized that how I perceived God determined how I received from Him.
We received the diagnosis of Haven’s condition an hour outside of Redding on a trip to a Jesus Culture event, our second visit to Bethel. The doctor said it was terminal…We were devastated. Our hope quickly began to collapse in our hearts like a balloon losing air. How could this be true?
The next morning we received two words of knowledge in the conference: The first was that God wanted to heal someone with a bad disk in the lower back. My leg started to tingle, and I stood and leaned down, as I heard a ‘pop’ and my herniated disk was healed. Then a woman stood up and declared that ‘There was a young married couple who had a child, a young boy who had a disease, and God wanted to heal his disease’ and as we stood in a whirlwind of amazement, the restoration of our hope began. The eyes of my heart were opened to the Healing Power Jesus made available a long time ago, I saw the miracles, and I discovered….
“God is more willing than You think”
Over the next 1 ½ years, we would make our journey to the House of Love here at Bethel. Every 6 weeks we piled in our car for the 9 hour drive, expectancy consuming our hearts. We Received the love of a family on every trip, although we barely knew them. People would pick us out of the crowd, as if they had a radar for the hungry ones desperately in need of hope. With every hug and prayer God kissed us. With every prophetic word, our faith increased & we had the courage to contend for his healing as we left on our long drive home.
‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.’ I had a prosperous and influential career in the action sports industry,….yet we found a treasure here in God, that far outweighed the cost of the sacrifice. God spoke to my heart and asked me my desire. He would bless us if we stayed, and He would bless us if we came, it was my choice. He wanted us to pursue the desires of our heart, and it was our desire was to come, so we moved here for school.
I’ve learned so much this past year. I’ve learned the Value of Rest, but also the Need to Persevere. I’ve learned to Rest and to Trust God, does not mean to stop contending. The more I encountered the Love of God and Intimacy in the secret place, the more I understood how much He had already provided, and realized He was holding little back. He would often say “Yes’ and yet I found I would still need use my faith to see it manifest. If we could only believe what He says, even if we don’t see it right away, we would see it more. I realized…
“He has given us much more than you think”
We learned identity, and sonship, and our minds were renewed to the royalty that He had made us. We learned the danger of a poverty mindset, and that the only ‘closed heavens’ was between your ears. I meditated on how “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies had been given to us in Christ” and it became much more clear that…
“He wants to prosper us much more than you think”
I learned through some challenging circumstances as well. God’s will is always good, but God’s perfect will does not always come to pass. God’s sovereignty does not mean He’s in complete control, yet He is always faithful. He’s entrusted us with power and authority to further His kingdom, and yet He relies on Us, to Do the ‘greater works’ . We have a significant responsibility, and yet this is not to be mistaken for a burden. Heb. 5:14 tells us that many of the 'more mature' things of the kingdom can only be experienced by our ability to act on our faith and to 'do the things our Father has told us to do'. I’ve found that He’s waiting on us to believe Him and to walk in our authority, and we too often are waiting on Him. I heard the story about Smith Wigglesworth, and how he had said ‘If the Spirit of God is not moving in a meeting, he will make Him move’ and I believe God was saying ‘I’ve been waiting on you!’ I realized that the truth behind that statement is that God is waiting for us to move in faith, the Holy Spirit is eager to support us. This was not an arrogant statement, for God has sent the Holy Spirit to help us, and as we set out to do the work, He comes alongside us to make it happen. He can lead us, but as we mature, we will find that He follows us and confirms with signs and wonders as we do what we know is the Father’s heart to do.
“All the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ” . I believe when we get to heaven, we’ll realize we had all that we needed for breakthrough and victory in this life, and we will wonder at the things that held us back from believing it and acting on it….and He’ll wipe the tears from our eyes. That’s why His grace is so extravagant, there will never be a question that He held anything good back that we needed. Do we need more mantles, or double portions, or do we just need to know The portion He has already given us? Do we need a new anointing, or do we just need to understand we have been anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power? We have the Resurrection Power dwelling in these earthly temples, do we need more, or do we just need to know how to release Him through faith? Is Jesus in us enough? If He just had more of us…He just wants all of us….What if we were fully His as He has fully given Himself?
As we come to understand how much He’s done & everything He’s given us, we must grow up and take the responsibility He has given to us as co-heirs and children of God. “The Creation is groaning”, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed and to understand this. Does the creation know more about what God has done for us than we do? The angels marvel at the power given to Man. God has bound Himself by His word, yet do we know what His word as says He has done in us?
I’ve come to believe that …
“He has given us much more authority than you think”
I have realized that the main thing the enemy tries to do is get you to doubt the goodness & willingness of God, because the more you know His goodness and what He has done for us, the more you will desire Him and less the things of this world, and the easier it will be to receive from Him the things that He has made available. The problem isn’t in His lack of giving, it’s often in our lack of receiving. I have found…
“He says ‘Yes’ more often than you think”
Now, It’s our time to see Divine Justice demonstrated in this earth. How do You perceive the justice of God? Is He a harsh God or is He always good? I’ve learned Divine Justice is releasing God’s goodness into every situation. God has entrusted this role to us, and now we are commissioned, so as we go always remember…
“He’s Much Better than you think”
The Road to Bethel
Our journey here began about 2 ½ years ago when we noticed our son Haven, hadn’t started to crawl yet. He was about 7 months old and so full of life. The doctors did not have any answers, only foreboding guesses.
About this time, our friend told us of a place called ‘Bethel’ where God still did miracles. I had always wondered where miracles went. I was only familiar with such stories in far away lands. We heard the testimonies, and the testimonies brought Hope. Our healing journey began.
I had heard the message of this House that ‘God is good’ and although we knew this theology, we quickly realized the areas of our life that had to be transformed if we really believed this. We later heard that ‘God was in a good mood’, was this really true? Always? I soon realized that how I perceived God determined how I received from Him.
We received the diagnosis of Haven’s condition an hour outside of Redding on a trip to a Jesus Culture event, our second visit to Bethel. The doctor said it was terminal…We were devastated. Our hope quickly began to collapse in our hearts like a balloon losing air. How could this be true?
The next morning we received two words of knowledge in the conference: The first was that God wanted to heal someone with a bad disk in the lower back. My leg started to tingle, and I stood and leaned down, as I heard a ‘pop’ and my herniated disk was healed. Then a woman stood up and declared that ‘There was a young married couple who had a child, a young boy who had a disease, and God wanted to heal his disease’ and as we stood in a whirlwind of amazement, the restoration of our hope began. The eyes of my heart were opened to the Healing Power Jesus made available a long time ago, I saw the miracles, and I discovered….
“God is more willing than You think”
Over the next 1 ½ years, we would make our journey to the House of Love here at Bethel. Every 6 weeks we piled in our car for the 9 hour drive, expectancy consuming our hearts. We Received the love of a family on every trip, although we barely knew them. People would pick us out of the crowd, as if they had a radar for the hungry ones desperately in need of hope. With every hug and prayer God kissed us. With every prophetic word, our faith increased & we had the courage to contend for his healing as we left on our long drive home.
‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.’ I had a prosperous and influential career in the action sports industry,….yet we found a treasure here in God, that far outweighed the cost of the sacrifice. God spoke to my heart and asked me my desire. He would bless us if we stayed, and He would bless us if we came, it was my choice. He wanted us to pursue the desires of our heart, and it was our desire was to come, so we moved here for school.
I’ve learned so much this past year. I’ve learned the Value of Rest, but also the Need to Persevere. I’ve learned to Rest and to Trust God, does not mean to stop contending. The more I encountered the Love of God and Intimacy in the secret place, the more I understood how much He had already provided, and realized He was holding little back. He would often say “Yes’ and yet I found I would still need use my faith to see it manifest. If we could only believe what He says, even if we don’t see it right away, we would see it more. I realized…
“He has given us much more than you think”
We learned identity, and sonship, and our minds were renewed to the royalty that He had made us. We learned the danger of a poverty mindset, and that the only ‘closed heavens’ was between your ears. I meditated on how “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies had been given to us in Christ” and it became much more clear that…
“He wants to prosper us much more than you think”
I learned through some challenging circumstances as well. God’s will is always good, but God’s perfect will does not always come to pass. God’s sovereignty does not mean He’s in complete control, yet He is always faithful. He’s entrusted us with power and authority to further His kingdom, and yet He relies on Us, to Do the ‘greater works’ . We have a significant responsibility, and yet this is not to be mistaken for a burden. Heb. 5:14 tells us that many of the 'more mature' things of the kingdom can only be experienced by our ability to act on our faith and to 'do the things our Father has told us to do'. I’ve found that He’s waiting on us to believe Him and to walk in our authority, and we too often are waiting on Him. I heard the story about Smith Wigglesworth, and how he had said ‘If the Spirit of God is not moving in a meeting, he will make Him move’ and I believe God was saying ‘I’ve been waiting on you!’ I realized that the truth behind that statement is that God is waiting for us to move in faith, the Holy Spirit is eager to support us. This was not an arrogant statement, for God has sent the Holy Spirit to help us, and as we set out to do the work, He comes alongside us to make it happen. He can lead us, but as we mature, we will find that He follows us and confirms with signs and wonders as we do what we know is the Father’s heart to do.
“All the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Christ” . I believe when we get to heaven, we’ll realize we had all that we needed for breakthrough and victory in this life, and we will wonder at the things that held us back from believing it and acting on it….and He’ll wipe the tears from our eyes. That’s why His grace is so extravagant, there will never be a question that He held anything good back that we needed. Do we need more mantles, or double portions, or do we just need to know The portion He has already given us? Do we need a new anointing, or do we just need to understand we have been anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power? We have the Resurrection Power dwelling in these earthly temples, do we need more, or do we just need to know how to release Him through faith? Is Jesus in us enough? If He just had more of us…He just wants all of us….What if we were fully His as He has fully given Himself?
As we come to understand how much He’s done & everything He’s given us, we must grow up and take the responsibility He has given to us as co-heirs and children of God. “The Creation is groaning”, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed and to understand this. Does the creation know more about what God has done for us than we do? The angels marvel at the power given to Man. God has bound Himself by His word, yet do we know what His word as says He has done in us?
I’ve come to believe that …
“He has given us much more authority than you think”
I have realized that the main thing the enemy tries to do is get you to doubt the goodness & willingness of God, because the more you know His goodness and what He has done for us, the more you will desire Him and less the things of this world, and the easier it will be to receive from Him the things that He has made available. The problem isn’t in His lack of giving, it’s often in our lack of receiving. I have found…
“He says ‘Yes’ more often than you think”
Now, It’s our time to see Divine Justice demonstrated in this earth. How do You perceive the justice of God? Is He a harsh God or is He always good? I’ve learned Divine Justice is releasing God’s goodness into every situation. God has entrusted this role to us, and now we are commissioned, so as we go always remember…
“He’s Much Better than you think”
