those men whom Jesus called, evidently Jesus was telling those He called, that He is the One of whom Moses prophesied, and that’s the reason why they should be following Him.

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John 1:45 “Phillip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’”

 

Even though Nathanael was skeptical, he followed Phillip to meet this Jesus that Phillip was so excited about, and as he was approaching Jesus, our Lord made that amazing statement about him, to which he responded with the following answer.

 

John 1:48 “Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do You know me?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Phillip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’”

 

What is even more amazing to me is Nathanael’s response, how do You know me? I mean, if Jesus said that about any of us today, here is a real Christian in whom there is no deceit, we would probably turn around and look behind us, I know I would; Hey, it wouldn't be the first time I said to the Lord, are You sure You have the right man Lord?

 

Let us see if we can sort this out, for there are a lot of symbolisms in this story; first we have Nathanael, an Israelite that was under a fig tree doing something, a fig tree is symbolic of the nation of Israel. This man had obviously been delivered from contaminated doctrines and falsehoods while under the fig tree, since Jesus said that he had no deceit in him.

 

And perhaps our greatest clue is in the new name by which John identifies him, Nathanael; for this same man is called Bartholomew in the other gospels. John who probably wrote his gospel after he was taken up to heaven while on the island of Patmos, writes with the emphasis on spiritual truths that are revealed through natural events.

 

Bart in front of Bartholomew, his original name, means the son of in his case the son of Holomew, or Bart-holomew; However the new name by which John calls him, Nathanael, means: The Gift of God.

 

Remember that in biblical reasoning your name reveals your nature, a new name means that a new nature has been given to that person.

 

John 1:49-51 “Nathanael answered and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Because I said to you, “I saw you under the fig tree,” do you believe? You will see greater things than this.’ And He said to Him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’”

 

The gift of God to Bartholomew was the new nature that was imparted to him while he was under the fig tree.

 

Something spiritual, radical, and personal, must have happened to him while under the fig tree, for when Jesus mentioned it to him, it left no doubt in his mind that Jesus was, for He had to be the Son of God, in order for Him to know about this very personal experience that he, Nathanael, obviously had with God.

 

Can we know what happened to Nathanael while under the fig tree?

 

Let us start with what Nathanael did not have inside of him when Jesus met him, it is clear from Jesus’ statement that Nathanael did not have any deceit in him; let us ask then, what is deceit? And how did he get rid of it?

 

The word Deceit, or Guile as it appears in the King James version, in the original Greek means Decoy or Trick, which implies that a person can be tricked into believing in their hearts that they are a person who differs greatly, a decoy, from the real person that they are.

 

So that their personality becomes a forgery, a copy of the original person’s soul that was originally created in the image of God.

 

James 1:7-8 “For let not that man suppose that he will receive ( a gift, Nathanael means the gift of God) anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man (two spirited man, a copy, or a forgery of an original), unstable in all his ways.”

 

What made Nathanael special, was that he was delivered from the deviations that had caused him to believe a lie, something about himself that he was not, and as he came into the reality of who he really was in the Lord, he was now able to accept the role for which God had created him, to be an apostle of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

The gift that Nathanael was given, not only allowed him to realize who he really was, but also, to recognize who Jesus really was, for he said to our Lord, Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!

 

The implications here are tremendous, for it tells me that I can never fully know who Jesus is, until I know who I really am in the Lord. For a double-minded, two spirited counterfeit person, can never comprehend or understand who the real Creator is.

 

How did Nathanael get rid of deceit?

 

James 4:7-10 “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

 

When Nathanael was under the fig tree that represented Israel, he as an Israelite, probably realized how many generational curses had been handed down to him that were caused by the disobedience and idolatry of his ancestors. Right there he had to make a decision, was he going to be an idolater like them, or renounce their evil practices and align himself with the God that created him to be a servant of the high calling of God?

 

Once he submitted himself to the high calling of God, a spiritual resistance to the lies of the devil arose from within him that allowed him to forsake the forgery of himself that the devil had fashioned after his idolatrous ancestry. By refusing to accept the devil’s plan for his life, he drew near to God and God’s plan for his life.

 

What followed had to be a cleansing prayer of true repentance, like in:

 

1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Then he had to do something to purify his heart, that is to rid it of the perverted sprit that was a forgery of who he really was and was pretending to be the real him. How did he do that?

 

James 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind (spiritual fake).”

 

He believed! The human soul was created in the image of God, it cannot be made to conform to the animalistic instincts of the flesh, for our souls were not created out of dirt, but came directly out of the Spirit of God, after God breezed into Adam’s nostrils, Adam became a living soul.

 

If we believe the lies of evolution and other demonic doctrines, whose aim is nothing more than to devalued the integrity of our souls and profane it as worthless, then a lie about who we really are is accepted, and that two spirited nature will hinder us from fulfilling the purpose for which God created us, which is to be spiritually minded creatures that exercise God’s dominion over this earthly plane.

 

It takes a humbled heart to recognize our true condition, if we are willing to admit it, all of us fail God somehow, somewhere, sometime.

 

Let me ask you this very personal question: Do you identify with the sin that you fall into after you fail God by sinning? When you lie do you believe that you are a liar? Your answer here is very important, for it will reveal to you which personality you are operation under, since you are a Christian and know that it is wrong to lie.

 

Romans 7:20 “Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.”

 

Listen to the words of Paul, and how he separates the sin from the sinner when he says that, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

 

If you are a Christian and believe that your sins make you a sinner, let’s say that you’ve lied so therefore you see yourself as a liar, then you are identifying with the duplicate you, and not the real you. For the believer should identify with the real self that says, it is not I that lied but the sin that dwells in me, which by the way, in this case would be a lying spirit.

 

You may say, what’s the difference?

 

If you believe that you are a Christian and that your are also a liar, then you condemn yourself, and in the same act, you accept a perverted version of yourself that God did not create, for your soul was created by the Spirit of Truth to abide in the Truth.

 

If you as a Christian recognize that you’ve lie, but do not see yourself as a liar, but rather as a person that needs to be delivered from a lying spirit, then you are identifying with your real self, and in the same act, you are asking for deliverance from an act that you do not want to do anymore.

 

In the New Testament, the definition for sin is to miss the mark, which clearly implies the absence of an action, rather that the commission of a lawless act. If we are Christians, all of our sins, past, present, and future, were paid for in full by the work that Jesus wrought for us on the cross, that makes us a new creation in Christ Jesus, we have no grounds to identify ourselves with the old nature anymore.

 

So that when we sin in accordance with our old nature, is because we are failing to take advantage of the deliverance that is already ours through the atoning power of the blood of Jesus, that is how we sin, we simply miss the mark. And it usually has to do with us identifying ourselves with the phony duplicate that the devil has been fashioning for us all our lives.

 

Truth originates with God, lies originate with the devil, we ought not to identify ourselves with any of the devil’s lies, but with every Word of Truth that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

 

2 Corinthians 5:21, 6:1 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 6:1 We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive (miss the mark) the grace of God in vain.”

 

Identify the strongholds in your life that cause you to sin, and target them for extinction. Do not see yourself as the person that the devil accuses you of being, but become the righteousness of God in Jesus through faith, that is who the real you is, and is already within you, do not miss the mark by accepting failure in your life. Do not give up!

 

Remember that some of your victories are future victories, for the Lord will always allow you to stay sharp by the battles that you are presently fighting. And in some instances you will be left to trust the fact that His grace is sufficient for you, for His strength is made perfect in your weaknesses.

 

Follow the prayer model that James chapter four showed us for the purification of our souls, evict that counterfeit failure that the devil has made of you, and totally put your trust in God’s great and precious promises that are Yes and Amen.

 

Here is a prayer that will help you get started:

 

PRAYER (pray this out loud)

 

Our Father who are in heaven, creator of heaven and earth, God the judge of all; in the name of Jesus your only Son I enter into Your heavenly court and publicly repent of all of my sins, and I ask for Your forgiveness in the Name of Jesus. Apply dear Lord I pray, the atoning blood of Jesus over all the sins in my life and the sins in my ancestor’s life that resulted in a curse.

 

I repent of all of our disobediences and rebellions committed against Your Word.

 

I now repent from and I renounce all the sins in my life and my ancestor’s life such as the sins of perversion, lust, cheating, lying, adultery, fornication, mistreatment of others, uncleanness, filthiness, wantonness, lewdness, and every perverted thing that was connected to our fallen nature.

 

I now repent from and I renounce all the sins in my life and my ancestor’s life such as the sins of false religion, cults, reading of horoscopes, idolatry, witchcraft, divination, all occult involvements, seditions, heresies, sorcery, dissentions, and every demonic thing that was connected to our fallen nature.

 

I now repent from and I renounce all the sins in my life and my ancestor’s life such as the sins of indecision, compromise, hatred, contentions, envy, gossip, murder, hostility towards others, hostilities towards my self, ill will towards others, ill will towards my self, and every divisive thing that was connected to our fallen nature.

 

I now repent from and I renounce all the sins in my life and my ancestor’s life such as the sins of malfunction, failures, laziness, lack of responsibility, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, drunkenness, intoxication, addictions, dependencies, and every compromising thing that was connected to our fallen nature.

 

According to 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

 

Now that I’ve confessed all my sins, I ask for Your forgiveness and cleansing from all my unrighteousness and the unrighteousness passed to me through the iniquity of all my ancestor’s. Deliver me Lord and cleanse me by the power of the blood of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

 

I now take authority over the devil’s accusations against me. In accordance with the Word of God, I break and condemn any and every curse upon my life in the name of Jesus. I break all curses of poverty, lack, debt, destruction, sickness, death and vagabond. I break all curses on my marriage, family, children, and relationships. I break curses of rejection, pride, rebellion, lust, hurt, incest, rape, Ahab, Jezebel, fear, insanity, madness, and confusion.

 

In the Name that is above every name, the Name of Jesus, I now break all curses affecting my finances, my mind, my sexual character, my emotions, my will, my intellect, and all my relationships.

 

In the Name of Jesus I now break every hex, jinx, spell, and spoken curse over my life and my family’s life. I break every fetter, shackle, chain, cord, habit, and cycle that is the result of a curse.

 

According to Galatians 3:13 I have been redeemed from the curse of the law by the sacrifice that Jesus offered on my behalf.

 

Father in heaven I now exercise my faith in the blood that Jesus offered for my redemption, and I loose myself and my descendants from any and every curse. I claim forgiveness through the blood that Jesus offered for my sins and the sins of my fathers.

 

All of my sins have been forgiven, so I now renounce all the works of Satan and their effect over my life, and my family’s lives, and I loose myself from every curse that came as a result of our disobedience and rebellion to the Word of God.

 

I exercise my faith now in the Word of God: Romans 10:9-10, and I make confession with my mouth of the salvation, deliverance, healing and restoration that I believe in my heart is now mine, because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

 

Therefore I confess that Abraham’s blessings are mine.

I confess that I am blessed and not curse.

I confess that I am the head and not the tail.

I confess that I am above and not beneath.

I confess that I am blessed coming in and going out.

I confess that I am blessed by God, and what God has blessed cannot be curse.

 

In the Name of Jesus and by the power of His shed blood, I now command spirits of Rejection, Hurt, Bitterness, Unforgiveness, Bondage, Torment, Death, Destruction, Suicide, Fear, Lust, Perversion, Mind Control, Witchcraft, Poverty, Lack, Debt, Confusion, Double-mindedness, Sickness, Infirmity, Pain, Divorce, Separation, Strife, Contention, Depression, Sadness, Loneliness, Self-Pity, Self-Destruction, Self-Rejection, Anger, Rage, Wrath, Anguish, Vagabond, Abuse, Addiction, Insanity and the rest to COME OUT NOW in the Name of Jesus my Deliverer, and be forever gone, because all of your rights to torment me and my family have now been removed.

 

Dear Father in Heaven, in the Name of Jesus Your only begotten Son, I now thank you for setting me and making me free from every curse and from every unclean spirit that had operated in my life as a result of curses. Thank You Jesus! Amen.