Accessing Heavenly Portals - Dr. Candice Smithyman AlongTheWay 127

Well, Dr. Candace Smitherman, it is great to have you on along the way. Thank you so much for just making the time for this conversation. I know we had a little bit of a trouble getting started here with some technical issues, but we've overcome that. And I just appreciate your flexibility in this process here. But enough about that, I'm just glad to be able to talk with you. We've had the opportunity to, to work together on a couple of different occasions, first as a guest on my TV show. And then also with the podcast network, and then you actually were, we ran into each other at nation's church in person for the first time. And we've done some other things since then, including the last time we had a great chance to talk. I did an interview with you. And we ended up having such an awesome time after we stopped recording where you actually led me and a Nia who was the producer through a very powerful encounter with Jesus, that hopefully we get a chance to incorporate some of that into this conversation, too. But Dr. Candace Smitherman Great to have you here on along the way.

Thank you, John. It's my blessing and honor privilege to be here with you today. I'm excited to see what God's gonna do in this interview always shows up and he always does something amazing. So my eyes are open. Yes, for sure.

Yes, he does show up. And I just love the fact that God has allowed our passes across multiple times already. And now we finally get to be along the way together, which I appreciate. And the purpose of this is to really hear your story about how you've been walking with the Lord. And as I'm going to be asking questions, that kind of along the way, as God puts things on my heart, or things stand out, and we want to go a little bit deeper. And so if you if you wouldn't mind, just I'd like to hear your story of how, what is it that you're doing now? And then let's go back? And how did how did God bring you down that path?

Yeah, oh my gosh, the Lord is doing so much. This, where I'm at right now with him is I'm really living out my purpose and destiny, a lot of what my life encompasses now is vision that God had given me probably more than 25 years ago, and I never really fully understood it, because I was in process. But every day, I just thank him because I really am living out the real reason why He created me to be on the earth and and I feel in a sense it I understand it. I mean convergence, I would say, you know if you kind of understand different levels of growth and maturity in the Lord different things that he has, for us as individuals as we grow with him, and convergence as in who I am and who he's created me to be, is converging in the right time and season for the manifestation of who God wants to be in and through me, and, and I have a lot of joy. I am really experiencing ever every day new encounters with God, new levels of revelation that I can share with others that tune into my television show my glory road television show, which is seen in more than about 350 million homes across the world. It's a very large audience. I'm on multiple networks. And I have a very large, Middle Eastern and Muslim public population actually, that watches my programs. So I get the opportunity to minister the gospel in the tongue of Urdu as well as English. So my programs are translated into Urdu, as well as translated

into Urdu. You don't actually speak or be really impressed with the

great translators? No. So my show airs in English and also in Urdu on many different networks. And, and so you know, the Lord has really been advancing the ministry tremendously. But along the way, I've had to make a lot of choices. I've had a lot of losses, tremendous loss in many areas. I have found that the only reason I sit at the seat that I do today, in all humility is because of the different crosses that I born the different losses that I've experienced. I I'm not here in this place, because God gave me some great vision and then boom, I sped their note, five years of, of a lot of growth, a lot of pain, a lot of joy, a lot of looking at myself a lot of learning how to surrender more and more to God and and give up more. It seems with everything that he advances or multiplies, we have to sow a seed in the ground, from a depth standpoint. So each and every level, I died to another part of myself or another, another something that meant a lot to me in order to be able to be at the place that I am today. But I do pinch myself every day, thinking about the beauty and the grace of God and where he's brought me from. I was an abandoned little girl at nine years old, I lost my father to a massive heart attack. He was 52 years old, and I was only my goodness, nine. Yep, my mother was a widow. At 32, she had two small children, a nine year old myself and my, my sister who was six at that time, and the Lord was a part of my life. Even then, when I was a child, he knew I would write in my Bible, how much I love Jesus. And so I'd received Jesus and, and I knew how much you know, he, he loved me as much as I could understand that. But what I didn't understand is after my father's death, which was so tragic, my mother went into an intense state of grief. And so she, she really had had difficulty dealing with my father's death. And my being the oldest child, I dealt with that through being very stoic. And so I never cried nor showed any signs of, of grief, myself and my father's death, I immediately picked myself up and started going forward, like, the only way I was going to survive is if I just kept moving. Yeah. And so I was surrounded by a lot of people who tried to tell me that my dad was a good man. And so the Lord needed him and created an anger on the inside of me. Because if God really loved me, then why did he take my father and I needed him? Why? Why would God Right, right. So I had some wrong theology thrown at me at a young age, and I was too young to really discern or understand it, counseling wasn't a thing back then. So you didn't kind of put your kids in counseling. My body immediately broke down at nine years old, because right after my father passing my mother grieving the loss of my father, only within a matter of a few weeks, I was in the hospital. And I was hooked up to a lot of machines for about six weeks, and I had a Crohn's disease attack. And they had to remove a part of my three feet of my intestines. So I had my goodness, yeah. So at nine years old, nine years old, it was life threatening, wow. Then my mother shifted from grieving the death of my father to wondering whether or not her her oldest daughter was going to survive, it was a lot of tragedy rather quickly. So then I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, and which I didn't even know what that was. I just, you know, again, it was in my medical file, but I, you know, was proceeding on with life and feeling kind of derailed and deranged from God. Basically, I was in a place where I actually started to believe well, maybe God didn't see my dad. But why didn't he love me enough to keep them. So my lack of being able to discern and understand really what happened kind of propelled me into a place of kind of being my own master of all things. And so I began to kind of learn how to navigate the world. Simply by kind of like being a chameleon per se, I would wear all the different masks that were necessary in a moment, for me to be able to deal with what was going on around me what I mean by that is, I was always a really good student in school. So I always strive to be like, you know, the number one student, I was president of my class, I was top cheerleader. You know, I mean, everything that was a stretch from a performance standpoint, you would find me being that person, I had to be kind of at that number one level for my own self. In order for me to know that I was alive that I was living that what I was doing was to gain something. And so I kind of learned to maneuver my world like that. As long as I could keep performing and doing well and keep getting my cookies and my m&ms and all my awards and all that kind of thing. Then I was going to be okay with me. And so, but inside John was a lot of anger toward God, and unrecoverable. And so I led two lives because I was this you know, like perfect kind of kid on one side with all of these achievements. And on the other side, you'd find me kind of smoking pot. out on the street corner, you know, hanging out with the kids that you knew, were really having difficulties in life, I had a lot of compassion on them, but I was right there with them, you know, I was very rebellious, my mother could never tell me what to do or not to do, I was, you know, ready to wreak havoc at any point. And it was I was very, I was just very rebellious. And that really was a manifestation of mine, not ever confessing what was going on on the inside of me. And so I manifest in two ways. One is being like this, you know, performance person. And then the other side is being like somebody who's dealing with, you know, substance abuse and things of that sort, you know, very depressed, very suicidal, you know, these kinds of things as a teenager. And so, I went through, went through life like that until I was 24. When I first encountered the Lord after I got married, at 23 years old, and I found myself in Hawaii, I'd met my husband when I was 21 years old. I graduated from college with my first degree, a Bachelor of Business Administration and accounting. And I took the money to go to Hawaii, and I went out to Hawaii. Instead of buying the clothes for my new job. I was working for a big aid accounting firm, and they had given me a bonus, and they said, go buy yourself some clothes. Instead, I said, I'm going to Hawaii. So I grabbed a friend of mine, we went to Hawaii for three weeks. And third day on the beach. I met my husband. And wow, yeah, I knew from the time I met him, he was going to be the guy who was going to marry. And sure enough, he he was, and we had this whirlwind romance between Washington DC and, and Oahu, Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii for about three or four months. And then I finally moved off to Hawaii. And we were together for almost a year. And then we got married. Yeah, and that was I'm proud to say, that was 33 years ago. So praise the 34 years ago. So praise the Lord. We've been married for three years. Yeah, this month, actually. And so um, so during that time, I put all of my eggs per se into my relationship with my husband. Everything about my identity was really focused around him. He was an incident in the Navy, he was moving into JG he had this career path in the military where he knew he had dreams and desires. He was an nfo, a naval flight officer for the P threes. And so we always lived on near water and beautiful places. I kind of lived all over the world during our 21 years that he served in the Navy. Long story short, so he takes off goes to Japan on deployment when Okay, before I'm left in Hawaii. All of a sudden, I start grieving John, I start grieving, like, for the first time in my life now, I'm not having any relationship with God, between the time that I'm nine until 24. Everything I'm doing is about Candice, it's about what's Candace doing? What kind of achievement just Candice have, you know, I mean, I just I would work really, really hard. And you know, what kind of job you know, it was it was all about me. I mean, like my world like revolved around me. It was ridiculous. So finally here, I find myself and I'm grieving. And the Lord began to send me all of these people, the people at my job, and then a women in my wife's club, and they're like, hey, you know, you don't really look very good. Like, you know, because I didn't, I wasn't eating. I was sick. I was depressed. I mean, I just, I mean, I literally was grieving, but I didn't know it. I just knew that something had hit me that was like, I couldn't my soul was being crushed. And I didn't have an answer for it. Well, they began to start to minister the gospel to me, and I said, Hey, listen. I know Jesus, but he doesn't care about me. And he doesn't care about what's going on with me. And they said, What, then they were like, You don't know him? And I said, Listen, I received Jesus when I was a kid. And I was like, the he's all concerned about wars and famine and like, big things like that. What is he? What does he care about me? And they're like, Listen, you just, you don't know him. And I was like, I don't to put like a question in my mind. Like, what do you mean, I don't know him, like, you know, thought he knew him ever since I was a kid. Right? And so, one night, my husband called me and said, There's a man in my squadron that died and we're shipping his body back to the to Honolulu. So this this man passed away in Japan in the squad and they're shipping his body back. And he says, As an officer's wife, you need to attend the funeral. You need to go as a representative of me and you and I said, Listen, I haven't been to a funeral since my dad died when I was nine, and I don't intend on going. And he's like, You have to go when I listen. John, I'd skirted every funeral. You Can imagine between the time of nine and 24, no grandparents, no ants, no uncles, I wouldn't make it to anybody's okay. I always had something going on that it was just like, I'm not going.

So So you had the opportunities, but you just, you just avoided it at all.

Yeah. And they were it was planned avoidance. I was like, I'm not going right. I could not deal with seeing because I saw the cop my father's coffin. And that was like, burn image in my mind. I could not ever deal with that. And I had no course faced my own fears about death, I faced anything. I'd avoided everything by good performance, John, I mean, I mean, we're talking we can we can get around all kinds of things in life if you're doing what the world says is good. And you look at proving to people you can get away from ever having to take a good look at yourself because the world will tell you you're okay. Whether or not you ever take a look at who you really are. So and see this is the heart I had Yeah, I had good flesh and I had good flesh John, you know, we call that flesh and we say flesh right? And we always refer to it as a bad thing. Right? Okay, well yeah, flesh being our sin nature, but you can make your sin nature look really good. Well, I'd make my no really good to people. So they'd be patting me on the back telling me all you know straight A student all you number one here, your number and I would just be eaten it up. Like this is how I was surviving. Right? You know, so, but that flash, that's all that is, right? But I misunderstood it as the way to gain approval so that I could live so you can imagine John, I was like a vacuum cleaner, sucking the life out of everybody I was with, because as long as I was getting admiration from people, or as long as people were telling me, I was okay, and I was this or I was that, then I was okay with me. But the minute that stopped, I was losing my foundation. It was such false. It was such a false sense of security, to put your life into other people's hands looking for personal approval or looking for approval of your achievements. That's who I was. So long story short, my husband calls me up tells me to go this funeral I say No way. So that night before I go to bed, and I don't know if I can paint a picture for you. But I have this like little black and white TV with the antennas. You know, sitting in my world war two roach infested apartment provided by the US Navy in Honolulu, actually was in Barbara's point, Hawaii, which is on like, the desert side of the island. And no family, my my closest family 6000 miles away. No mom to come and rescue me. You know, Mom was always really good at getting me. You know, she was the best mom ever, you know, which me and my sister. As we were all grew up together. We like kind of The Three Musketeers because now you know, my dad was gone, you know, and so, so she can rescue me. So here I am. And I say to the Lord, I mean, I like a gallon of ice cream depressed as you can be. It is eating this ice cream. And when I'm finished eating the whole gallon, okay, that's how I said, Lord, this is my pathetic prayer. I call it the pathetic prayer because it's what it was, Lord, if you're there, and you can hear me, I can't get myself out of this one. Now, listen, when I said that, I was not saying I couldn't get myself out of the funeral. It was a cry from my soul. I was saying I can't get me out of me. Like, I can't free myself. All right. The funeral was the thing that drove me. What was the natural cause that drove me to pray a prayer. That was a soul that was deprived and sick, my soul was sick. So I said, I can't get myself out of this one. Well, I fell asleep with the light on I literally passed out, fell asleep with the light on and woke up the next morning. Looking for my grief. John, I woke up expecting to be sick. Because every day I got up I was sick, sick to my stomach. Sick Am I so I had such a heavy spirit of depression, and anxiety and fear around me. And my soul was consumed with this. And I had never dealt with it. And so here's the combination of it. I was going to my personal death that I reached for for to touch my death, that death on the inside of me. And it wasn't there. I was like, I kept hitting my chest. Oh my god. Oh my god, like I feel. I feel like myself, like, like, who I was before all this. And I was like, and I mean, I want you to know, it's not even like I like real conscious understanding of who I was before this moment, but it was just feel joy. I was like, I feel joy. I feel peace. I don't feel pain. And I was like, Oh my God, what was the last thing I said? And I said, I prayed that prayer. So I got up I got dressed for the funeral. I went to the funeral and the people who had been ministering to me, took one look at me at the funeral and they said, My God, what's happening you look totally different. And I said I am. I said, I prayed this prayer and that Jesus. I said, all of a sudden he came and he touched me. And I was like, I'm like, healed. I'm like, I feel like amazing. And they're like, Well, why don't you come tonight to our Bible study? And I said, Okay, I'll be there. And they said, Okay, well, it's going to be on base just come at this time. So I showed up to this Bible study, and there's about 20 people there. And the pastor of the chapel was there. And he began to go through Bible scriptures. And he started to say, you know, what is this Scripture mean? And the different people, you know, we were all there. And he'd say, okay, so what does the Scripture mean? And I'm looking around, no one's raising their hands, who's giving a scripture, but no one's raising their hand. And I'm thinking to myself, well, I know what the scripture means. So I like kind of like, sheepishly raised my hand, like, I know, and everyone looks at me like, What do you know, like, you just you just got touched, but what do you know, you know? And so he says, okay, Candace, what do you think it means? So then I told him, I said, this is what I think it means. And he's like, Well, that's exactly what that means. So then he does it again. And then he starts asking people, What is the Scripture mean? No one's raising their hand. And I'm like, What is it with this group? Like, don't they know what the Scriptures mean? You know, I was like, because it's right here. So I lifted up my hand again, and he said, Okay, Candace, what does it mean? And I said, Well, this is what the scripture means. And everybody's looking at me, like, how do you know this? And I was like, that's when I knew. I was like, Oh, my God, something's happened to me. And I was like, because I couldn't even read the word before. I didn't even understand, right. And I was like, now I'm healed in my body. I'm not even sad or sick anymore. And I can actually understand the word of God and share it with these other people. And I was like, something's happened. It was amazing. So then I heard the voice of the Lord say, shortly after that, was like, the next day or so he said, he said, in three days, the enemies coming to steal your joy, get in my word, and memorize every word you can about fear, anxiety, and depression. So then I begin to start I flipped it, I found a concordance in the back of my Bible, which I didn't even know how to use by the way. But somehow or another in the back, it starts listing these words, these topics, and I went to fear. And I started seeing all the scriptures and I started memorizing, and I started to sing him over and over again to my son, anytime I felt like something was cutting back on me again, to try and take away my joy, I just began to start seeing the word. And I say it over and over again. And then I started to ruminate on it over and over again. And that's kind of how the story started, where I learned to begin to start healing myself with the Word of God, I had one touch from the Lord, yes. But then healed by speaking the Word of God, to myself. Well, then this one last thought I want to share with you, John, because I know you got some questions here. But yeah, so this last bit here. So then in that same week, I had an appointment on the base to go to the doctor to get my Crohn's disease checked. So when you have Crohn's disease, it's a disease of the intestines. And so you have to drink barium in order for you to go X ray machines so that they can determine what's going on. So I did with the strength to bearing out went to the test, when it was finished. They said, Oh, my God, you have no signs of Crohn's disease whatsoever. And they were like, What happened to you? And I knew I was healed. I was like, I had this encounter with the Lord, He's healed me. So in that one touch from God, not only was my soul brought to a place of joy, I then was able to understand the word of God read it, understand and speak it and then speak it to myself for healing. But I was also healed of the A incurable disease. So they say incurable was Crohn's disease. And so one touch God, then now I'm on a supernatural journey, from that supernatural touch from God to find out everything that I can about who he is about his love about what he has for us and about how I can get in alignment with him because my life was out of steal out of control. Like I was not living holy. I didn't even know what holiness was. How does this get right?

Yeah, so you I just want to key in on something that you were just saying, because you said that you heard God speak to you memorize my word, because in three days something is coming to steal your joy. Yeah. What was that thing but I love the fact that God gave you a plan to overcome that. What happened at the three day mark?

Yeah, eat well, as you know, when the soul is frayed or in pain or in sin. It opens us up for demonic forces to have strongholds over our life. And so you can imagine the stronghold forces of fear, anxiety and depression that have followed me ever since I was nine years old when I faced a spirit of death, that spirit of death came upon my father, but it came upon our household. And see, this is the thing about death, death is not fair. When it comes to steel, and it comes to kill, not only did it take the life of my father, but it actually took me my sister and my mother's life to it robbed us of our lives. And I had to learn to live my life, with the carnage or the effect of the spirit of death, having come upon me, and not having any knowledge of God, not really understanding anything. I did not know that how that spirit of death manifest is also with fear, anxiety and depression. So the lying spirits manipulation, that these spiritual forces come with this. And so they came in attach themselves to me. So from the time I was nine years old, I'd always suffered from severe a fear, anxiety and depression, I would overcome it through my performance. But I had always had high anxiety levels, like Generalized Anxiety Disorder, I mean, always anxious all the time, always a spirit of fear, you know, these kinds of things. These come from having faced a spirit of death when I was a child and never understanding it, nor having it be reconciled. So can you imagine I carry that until I was 24. So when the Lord speaks out to me, what he's saying is, those forces have been with you for all of those years, and they've grabbed hold of your soul. And you've tried to fight them with good performance with doing different natural tactics to get away from it. But there was no way to escape. And so when he gives me the strategy, what he's doing is he's sharing with me, this is how you'll be set free permanently. Not only did I give you a supernatural touch, but I want you to work the word into the Word works for you. I want you to work my word which brings freedom by knowing and understanding what these spirits do, and then they will not gain access over you anymore. You will indeed now have authority over them.

Amen. Amen. So God gave you a plan to overcome before the enemy tried to get you back. And so you are able to withstand? That's great. Yeah, that's awesome. So you, you said that you moved all over when your husband was in the Navy, and you're now in Jacksonville, Florida right now. Is that correct?

I am. Yes.

Yeah. Yeah. So how did you go from being an officer's wife into being somebody that's written multiple books, who has a couple of podcasts has a TV show that, you know, being viewed in other countries and being translated into Urdu? You know, tell me about let's connect those dots there too, because, like, what you shared was just a great, amazing story of how God protected you early on. But there's a lot of there's a lot of life that has happened since you were 24. And it feels like, from the times that we've talked, it feels like God is launching you into something even bigger than what you've already done. As of as of 2022. It feels like there's a lot more that God's bringing launching you into, how did God bring you to where you are today?

You know, he really brought me here through this study of the Word of God, I don't want to sound like he knew, you know, kind of like give a pat answer. But I always felt that there was more to God. And more, he wanted to reveal to me about himself that I did not know. And if I persisted on searching for the treasure in every way, he would continue to reveal who he was to me, I want you to know that search is not over. It's the glory of God. It's the glory of King, it's the glory of God to conceal a matter. It's the glory of Kings just search out a manner. And so as a king, as a queen, as a princess of the Lord as one of his inherited children. I'm always seeking more of him, I want to know more of him all the time, I realized, I don't know. All there is to know and he wants to continue to reveal things on a continual basis. So I continue to drive myself in the Word of God. And so he gave me enough wisdom, a touch of wisdom from heaven to constantly be seeking Him the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I continue to revere him and I continue to, to seek after that wisdom any way that I could. So I, I just get in the Word and start studying the Word and studying the Word and the Word became my lifeline. And the word healed me in every way, not only a fear, anxiety and depression has healed my body of multiple disorders. And you know, at various times, brought me great revelation and understanding, excuse me, these kinds of things so that I would be able to be one that God could provide Mote in due season, you know, God will show us visions of our life. And we'll see ourselves promoted in certain places. But there is a journey to get there. And that journey always brings us back to that humble place, a place of humility and surrender, knowing that we don't know what we think we know. And if we will just get in the Word of God and get in that deep and abiding relationship with that with him, which is what he wants the most. God doesn't want our promotion, he doesn't care one way or the other about our promotion, right? He cares about personal relationship with us. And the fruit of that is promotion, the fruit of that is going from glory to glory to glory. So when we get our eyes on the right thing, which he trained me to do, then he just began to start opening doors with every single one of those doors, so I had to give up something. I had great loss, you know, and great pain and great challenge. I faced a lot of intense demonic forces, you know, I mean, here I was young thinking, fear, anxiety and depression, were it Are you kidding me? I faced you know, oh, my gosh, you know, jazz Bell, Ahab, glorious spirits, all different kinds of demonic spirits that are, you know, just, you know, in our earth today, that I had to learn to overcome. So different levels, open me up to those different challenges, right, new levels, new devils, it's the truth. Right? Each devil would take me right back to the very beginning, just like I was 24. What is it that you're trying to tell me? What is it that I don't know about you? What is it that the word is going to reveal? Get me in that word, and show me Lord, that I might be changed, I might be healed and redeemed that I might be more like you. And so. So yes, where I'm sitting today is a result of a lot of intensive study, you know, and I'm still studying just as hard today, as I did all those all those years before, and if nothing else, even more now, not only for myself, which is number one, right? I go for me, okay? Because I need help in all kinds of areas, but I now go to be a voice of encouragement to others who need it so that those that are sick, and they're weary, and they're tired, and they're overcome with forces, and they don't know how to get out of their masks, that there may be a word that God would give me for them, that they might be raised up, and they might be encouraged. And so, so now my life is one of being a servant for him, so that as he teaches and trains me, I can bring forth that revelation and help others go into a deeper, more relation, deeper and more abiding relationship with him as well.

Wow. So how are you doing that? I mean, I mentioned earlier that you're writing books and doing podcasts and teachings, and God's really opened up a lot of doors for you, what is your main message and tell me about somebody's life has been changed, because you've been obedient to share that.

You know, my main message now, after these years, and I believe there's different levels, again, of Revelation. So where I am today, is really a greater understanding of the glory of God, and the manifestation of His glory in the earth, and how I can participate with him. And now I can surrender to him. So I can be one used of him, in order for others to tap into the glory of God. So that is kind of like how I feel like my life call is that I've I've accesses realms I've been to Heaven multiple times. That's my releasing have been book I've seen and experienced, you know, many different supernatural encounters with God, the first hatchet 24 Yes, that's only one. I mean, my whole life is just filled with great supernatural things that God has done in around me, my ministry, you know, worldwide, I get the opportunity to travel all over, we've seen amazing miracles and blind I see deaf ears, hear people gotten out of wheelchairs, you know, all the time, you know, physical alignments, you know, different diseases of, of certain sorts, people here to bring heal to brain cancer, you know, different kinds of things. The list is so long, I can almost pinpoint it on one because it's been happening for such a long period of time. These are all the manifestations of him, him, it's him and his glory. And when his glory enters the place and just learning to be submissive to that. He's taken me to greater understandings of learning to be submissive to His Spirit in in meetings, different things that I might choose to do because I am a teacher of the word quieting me and causing me to just shut up and be quiet so that he can work on people without my even speaking. So it's closing down my mouth. It's closing on my hands, not allowing the laying down my gifts that the annoying God would not operate, but that his glory would come in. And what I mean by that is that he would touch everyone in the room without my touching anyone, and have everyone walk away healed. People feeling the weight and the glory of the Lord. And never having experienced that before. Having him just touch them personally and individually, these kinds of things is, is really what I want to live for. And what I see happening now and he's opening up more and more doors and opportunities for me to travel and speak, so that I can teach and train other people in this area too, as well, where I used to train the sheep at kind of at large, and I still do, I have a record in for for the fivefold ministry gifts, and especially for pastors because I, my husband, I pastored a church for 16 years. And I want to make sure that I'm just there for pastors and leaders who are so wrapped up in loving their congregations and just all the things that they have to experience in order to bring forth the gospel, um, twice a week, you know, and all that goes with that, you know, so So that's kind of where my, where my, where my heart is today. And and I just want to keep growing. And God, I just want to keep learning how to surrender more to him, I found that this whole walk is not about how much you do. It's about how much you rest, and resting is a whole lot harder than it is doing.

That is very true. And that that kind of changed my focus of what we what I wanted to talk about next. Because there's a couple of things you said, but I think rest is something that man, how do we deal with life if we don't rest if we don't operate out of that place of rest. And I think with rest, it also connects to encountering God in a new way. You know, because you've given yourself that time to be able to do that. And as opposed to just, you know, just filling your time and occupying your space with new things all the time taking that rest, to sit back and let God encounter you. I know that's something that I want to talk about here. But you've had you've had encounter experiences with Jesus multiple times, you mentioned that you've been to Heaven, you've encountered that. Did that come out of a place of rest as well? How did that happen? And I guess the biggest question is, how can we have those experiences to?

Yeah, you know, in very, very good question, you know, and, and, you know, they came out of the times that I spent with the Lord where I got catapulted to heaven, came at a time of great surrender and worship, and also praying and fasting, doing the spiritual disciplines. I do a lot of teaching my ministry about the 12 spiritual disciplines and the importance of practicing them, not as laws, but simply as a ways that we can properly position ourselves for greater holiness and surrender unto the Lord and the disciplines pray, praying, fasting, you know, Christian meditation, you know, that is an murmuring on the Word of God, you know, celebration coming into worship, you know, submission, solitude, these kinds of things will task, the flash, we talked in the beginning about good flash, bad flash, you know, in the earth are often determined, it's still flesh, no matter whether it looks good, or not. But that's the kind of stuff that God wants to tame, the more flesh is tamed, the greater the glory will walk in. And so just learning how to do that and learning how to, you know, share that with people. So so my encounters have come from putting my flesh through some tests, enabling my flash to learn how to surrender more to the Lord and more to his presence. The apostle Paul speaks about the fact that he says, I'll boast all the more my weaknesses, and he was talking about the the thorn that he had in his flesh. This is one of my favorite scriptures, as he's talking about this thorn in his flesh, he's asking for God to remove it. And he says, The Lord says to him three times, you know, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And when I began to study, Paul's outcry they are granted his outcry was because he had great revelations from the Lord as a matter of fact, because he caught up to heaven, right? Even caught him. Right, right. And, you know, he doesn't say it's him, but he says, he knows somebody, right? And when I found in my own life is that actually that word power in that Scripture is the word dunamis. And so if we want to see miracle working power happened around us, we have to learn to surrender ourselves. and surrender our flesh to the Lord, we have to go to a place of weakness so that his power may be made, present might be made perfect. Now, when we talk about going to a place of weakness, I mean, we can go to a place of weakness, we've been hit hard by the enemy when we've been hit with sickness, we've been hit. Okay, but what if you have flipped your soul on a conscious level, through praying and fasting and giving and doing these kinds of things, that you end up afflicting yourself to a place of weakness, then then His power, His dunamis power can come forth. And so Paul was talking about a new place of rest that he was in now we know the Apostle Paul walked in great signs, miracles, wonders, as did all the other apostles. Right. And we, we know this right? Not only because you will, because the word tells us what we can gain an understanding of how we too, can walk in signs, miracles, and wonders when we adhere to the Greek and the Hebrew words and or the Greek words and understand what it is then, that they submitted themselves to. And to the Apostle Paul saying here, he's saying, Listen, I practice weakness. That's basically what he's saying. He says, I practice weakness, because when I practice weakness, then dunamis power comes forth. Now, this is a powerful word for somebody. If somebody's watching, listening right now, and they're thinking to themselves, I want to walk in Greater Signs, Merkel's wonders, then then practice weakness of your own flesh, which means take a good look at all the things that make you strong, and hand those over to the Lord. The greatest glory that I've ever walked in through signs, miracles and wonders, seeing God do amazing things came when I was willing to go to places in faith where I would let go completely of myself, like I'd have no recollection of all at all of who I was, but only of who he is. That's what first happened to me. When I got caught up. I knew I got caught up to heaven, because I had no understanding of who I was only an understanding of who he was. It was only about him. Now, I want you to know Kathryn Kuhlman knew this key too, because there's a lot of there's a lot of videos out there where she say, shares and shares about her relationship with the Holy Spirit. Okay, she's, she's talking pretty much kind of the same thing. I'm saying, like her and Holy Spirit, were like one, but she trained her flesh to get to a place where it remained weak, and in its weakness, then God came forth. And so there is a training process. And Apostle Paul says, is straight up, read their scripture. He's saying, Listen, you got to train yourself to be weak. And I've been going through a process another level process with God, even today, John, you know, where God's been ministering to me. He's next levels of these things that he's taking me to where I got to be weaker, not stronger. And that's not something that that that we understand. Everything is about our strength. We and in even when we talk about the miracle working power of God, we always somehow a simulated to us getting stronger. But in effect, if we want to see the greater workings of the Lord, we have to become less, we have to get weaker, and then he becomes stronger. And so we have to practice that. And who wants to practice their weakness? Nobody does, right? I mean, he want to practice your strength. But here's the deal, you will be strong, when you learn how to be weak. And in that weakness comes great humility, it comes great bashing, it comes great loss. It comes with great risk. That's the kind of thing that the apostle Paul was saying. He's saying, Listen, your your grace is sufficient for me, Lord, because when I have all those things that I hold up high, but I allow them to fall, then your power comes forth.

Yeah. You know, as you're talking about how it's not our strength, you know, we need to be in a position of weakness so that God can, it can be his strength. I was just thinking about the story of Gideon, and how he, the Bible says, In Judges, chapter seven, I believe that, you know, he, he was going up against a force that was too big to give number, okay, and so it mean, you add up the Midianites. And then the peoples of the East and the Bible actually says it's too big to number, the camels that they had was too big to number. And so I think that that's very interesting, especially because there's a book in the in the Bible actually called numbers. And normally the Bible is very specific about numbers. And so it says there's way too many to even count. But then he has a force of 32,000 men. And then God says that's too many. Not the opposite of I mean, that's the opposite of what we would think. And then gets gets it down to 10,000. And then God says that's too many and it goes down to 300. And at that point, there is no way that Gideon in his natural flesh is going to get any glory or know that like, there's, we did not do this ourselves, this has to only be God. And, and his, his plan, his power, and his presence being all over the place there. And they were victorious as we know. And so as you were just talking about that, that's the story that was just kind of in my mind and seeing how like, when even when we're, when we think we're strong, God's gonna bring us to a place where he makes us weak so that he can get the glory. And one of the ways that I met on regular basis is through faster. And I tried to do that at least once a year, or longer, faster than a one day fast. And this year actually did, I did it twice, I just felt like I needed to do another one. And just to put myself in a position of weakness. And because I, one of the things I was really believing for was just encounters with the Lord. And I want to get to that with you in just a moment. But I don't want to forget to ask some of our main questions that I have to ask for every episode here. But you know, when you just like on the, on the road to Emmaus, the disciples were walking with Jesus, but they had no clue that it was him at the moment until he sits down at the table with them, he blesses the food breaks the bread, their eyes are opened, and then poof, he's gone. And then Luke 2432, they turn to each other and say, weren't our hearts burning within us along the way as he was revealing the Scriptures to us? You know, and I think you kind of already, you probably shared the story that kind of best fits this in your life. But as you look back at your life right now, where do you see Jesus now that you didn't feel him in the moment? Because I want to learn from that. And I want to be able, I want our audience to be able to be better equipped for realizing that in the moment so that we don't look back and say, I missed it.

Where do I see Jesus now that I have not recognized in the past, you know, again, I'm going to I'm going to reflect on the fact that I'm at this new level of understanding his weakness, and my weakness, not his his strength, but my weakness and embracing my weakness. One of the things that the Lord asked me to give up this summer was my spiritual gifts. Now this is that's it was very interesting. sounds odd. Yeah. Does let me tell you why. Because I had held them up to Hi, my, my teaching gifts, this revelation that God gives me a lot of times I'm, he uses me to teach some very, very difficult hard passages, things to help people learn and grow in their relationship with him. But he actually had me give that up this summer, in order to make a switch over okay, to a greater understanding of his weakness, he I consider my teaching gifts to be a very, very strong gifting that I have, yes, I operate, you know, as, as in the office of profit. And, you know, I have other offices that I carry, but that protect my teaching gift is something that this is why I published so many books, right? It's because of a lot of teaching, writing. And people want to know things they want to know things about the ascension, about heaven, about glory, until the purchase of books about angels, things of this sort. But the Lord began to really speak to me about how that gifting is getting in the way of how he wants to use me in other arenas. And I need to begin to lay that gift down, and I need to harness it. So that each time I'm invited to speak somewhere, I also operate in another giftings, you know, and he wants his glory to come forth. And I can get very, very focused on teaching certain passages and doing certain things like that, even though I know God wants people to learn this stuff, right. But to be able to set that aside, when it's time that he just wants to do a whole service. It's a miracle healing. And he doesn't want me to be teaching specific passages on the Hebrew and the Greek. And so I have to give up that gift in order to gain him moving in a way. There's a scripture that talks about how the apostle Paul said, I didn't come to you with persuasive words. He said, when he was speaking to the people, he says, But I came to you, in a demonstration of My Spirit and of power is what he said so that your faith might be increased. And so one of the things that God had been working with me on is yes, Candace. Yeah, you know, I've given you all this, this revelation from heaven, you're writing books, you're doing all this kind of stuff. But I want to use you in this season in a different way. And each time you come up to the plate, you come up batting from some of this, and he's like, I need you to surrender more to me so that we can begin to Start moving in a greater demonstration of My Spirit and power. And so one of your strengths, or one of the things that I've strengthened you in over the years is your understanding of the word. And listen, I wouldn't even be in the seat today talking with you if it had not been for the Word of God, because the word of God is God. And the word is power in every respect. And I know that and I know when people hear the word, their faith is increased to go to next level. We know that all throughout the world, God, but the Lord had been teaching me Listen, there's many times that I'm calling you to minister, and you come in with a such a strong word. And yes, I'm telling you, these are the scriptures that you need to minister. But you need to also balance that with spirit and power demonstration, he said. And so he was teaching me to let go of some of my old anchors, because I'll tell you sometimes when I come up to preach, one of my anchors is the word ma hold on to this, I'm gonna hold on to this, right. I mean, this is my prep to go and do that. When you walk in Spirit and the power of the Spirit and demonstration of His power. It's now with persuasive words, you have no idea what he's going to do, you have no idea. So he has said to me, of, of sending down what is a strain that we have established to now taking on a greater weakness, but now seeing move in some of the mightiest ways I've ever seen a move. I just did a seven day revival in Hawaii was the most amazing thing. And I set aside some of the heavy word teaching that I bring forth. And he brought forth a demonstration of His Spirit, empower the increase of faith of each and every place that I had the chance to minister and me, I'm ministered to, we minister to so many people, but on top of him by Minister to a lot of leaders. I mean, when I was in Hilo, Hawaii, I minister to one of the oldest revival churches there. And we had, we had leaders from all over the place come and, and sit under that demonstration of the Spirit and power that night so that they could see and so they could engage and so that they could be a part of seen how the glory of God operates. And then, you know, in Honolulu, you know, I ministered there. And it was just really powerful how the glory of God came in. And people were like, you know, I disappear when the glory of God comes out, there was somebody who did testimony, they're like, I've never experienced the glory of the Lord. But then I went to look for Candace, and she wasn't even there. But God's touching everyone, they're weeping, and he's healing every single person in the house, they don't need to see well. They don't need to see me, what am I there for? I'm not there for anything. He's come to minister to his people, what good are mine, he's, the king is there. He's kind of Minister to his people, I need to get out of the way. Just remove myself. So these are the things that we learn and we grow in, and I'm growing just like everybody else. And I'm being challenged by just like everybody else. And he's asking me to give up things, even good things, even like our spiritual giftings, lay them on the altar, and then watch and see what God determines to do around you by faith. Because it takes a lot of faith to lay down even the giftings that you and God have perfected over the years. You let him down. And then you watch and see what else is he gonna raise up but is there's a weakness there. So it's a weakness, because you don't know how you're going to be perceived by the people. You don't even know what God is going to do. You got to keep setting aside yourself. It's risky to set yourself aside every single time and especially publicly.

Wow, wow. That's powerful. There's a lot that you just said there that I'm looking forward to editing this episode, because I get to hear that again, and just pause it and process those things. And I encourage people that are listening to actually do that as well to go back and listen to just, I just felt like I was drinking from a firehose with that answer. So that was that was really good. my follow up question is, if you, yourself now could go back in time and visit a younger version of cannabis? What advice would you give that younger version and what's happening in your life that you would want to receive that

I would tell my younger version to rest more and work less, I would tell my younger version, that God will bring you to the places that he's calling you just fine. You don't need to fight your way there. You don't even need to try really hard to get there. Because he's not concerned about how hard you work or how hard you try for the vision that it is that he's given you. He knows he can bring it to pass. He just wants to be in relationship with you. I would tell my younger version to Shabbat more. Take your one day a week and do what the Old Testament says and allow the giver to give you what you need in the day. Set it aside. He knows what Shabbat is all about, you know, Shabbat is about the fact that then when the Lord brought them manna from heaven, he told them I'll give you a double portion on day six because day seven, I don't want you to do any work. And Shabbat was representative to all the other nations that the nation of Israel who served their God by taking a day of rest one day a week. And so when we determined to do that, John, in our culture today, what we're saying is we're determining not to work when the world is expecting us to, even when other ministries or other relationships are expecting us to minister on that day, or on that time that we should enter into a space of rest. And so it took a challenge for the Israelites, they got scared when they thought that they weren't going to pick up on day seven, they got scared, some of them took way too much food, they didn't obey God, and it turned into mangoes, right? So we get scared when we think about what would it be like to rest all day, and maybe for more than one day, but multiple days. And see there's a test of faith right there. So Shabbat is about faith is what it's about. It's about stepping into next realms of faith. It's about believing God for what we can obtain on our own. And what we can't work hard enough to gain. And so I think our culture in our world today says work harder, do more, be this be that How about your rest more, and then watch God be who he wants to be in and through you. People want to walk in signs, miracles, wonders, it means letting more go, not taking more one, I would have told my younger self, listen, you know, you don't have to have kill yourself in ministry or anything else in due time, God will position you exactly where you need to be. But you'll have greater wisdom, if you choose to learn how to rest more, because the revelation that you'll receive from Heaven only comes in rest. See, here's the key folks. Listen, this great revelation you want doesn't come because you're banging it out. It comes because you're resting and he gives it to you. That was the beauty of Shabbat. It said that God gave them the manna. God gave us the inheritance. See, there's key words here. They're about what God does not what we do. So the whole story is about is about us, relinquishing who we are surrendering who we are surrendering our will they he might come through and do what only He can do. That's what I tell my younger self, do enjoy God more and work a whole lot less.

Yeah, that is great advice. And, you know, as I was just thinking about the whole concept of manna and how they weren't supposed to pick it up on the seventh day, I'm sure that that first day, that first seventh day that they weren't supposed to pick it up, or you know that they were just not sure exactly what was going to happen. But it got easier and easier. Because they then saw God's faithfulness in that process. And he encountered them in new ways all the time. They're, you know, I our time is running a little bit short. But I teased earlier that you've been you've had encounters. Do we have enough time that you could lead us in in some sort of a restful encounter right now since that's been a theme since we've been talking about that? And kind of explain about that, because I know that was such a powerful moment that we had, that was not recorded in the previous interview that you and I did, just because it flowed out of it was there was an overflow after we had stopped recording, or that charisma news story.

Yes, that was a good moment, wasn't it? I have a quick one that we can do right now. It's not this Yeah, please, the one that I took you through the royal banquet experience, if people are interested in that, all they have to do is go to my website at Candace Smith mn.com. And I've got a CD there that will help them be able to, it's called releasing righteousness, I believe it's all about how to, to walk through that faith activation, the process of going to the road table, and it's in alignment with my releasing Heaven Book. And so I just want to leave people with that if they want to do the same one that you and I write right up with, but

this one, I'll make sure to put that link in in the Episode Notes so people can can get that too. So wonderful. Okay.

So one of the things that so we can quickly do this, but at the same time, have the experience we want is in Luke chapter five, Jesus speaks to the disciples about the fact that it's time to cast their nets again, and it says in Luke chapter five that they had toiled all night when Jesus had come to them and said, you know, let's go out fishing. And they were like, you know, Father, don't you know, I mean, they said, Master, they said, Master, don't you know we've been doing this all day long we've been toiling is what they said, we've been toiling. Actually that word broken down. The Greek is the word reason we've been reasoning. Have we been reasoning and reasoning? And so they, they were in a place where they had been hoping for a catch, but they hadn't caught one yet. All right. And so they used up all of their reason, their their soul was fatigued, their mind will and emotions were fatigued as well as their body was dig, here comes Jesus and he says, Listen, you know, Cast your net on the left side, and then they say, you know, nevertheless, whatever you say, Okay, we'll do. All right. So they shifted from the place of hope, hope and toiling. Okay, listen, we toil in our hope. I'm going to explain that in just a second to now a place of faith where they grabbed a hold of the faith, of the master the faith of God. Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians, chapter two, verse 20, that he's been crucified with Christ and He no longer lives, but Christ lives in him and the life he now lives. He lives by the faith of God, okay, not faith in God, that's a different translation. It's the faith of God. Okay. So in this point, in Luke, chapter five, the disciples are tapping into the faith of the master who says, throw over the nets for a cat. All right. So I'm going to take you to a place right now that goes beyond hope, to a place of faith, then beyond faith to a place of glory. All right. So I want everybody to think for just a moment, I want you to think about what you've been hoping God for. Listen, we've all been hoping for something. Maybe you're hoping for a new job. Maybe you're hoping for a new apartment. Maybe you're hoping for a new relationship. Maybe you're hoping for some money, you know, whatever your hope is. Okay. Now hope means that you're still asking but have not yet received. that's it hope me that's good. Hope means that you're frustrated because you keep sending up prayers that aren't being answered. This is what hope means. This is why toiling okay, they were toiling in that they were hoping for this great catch, but in their toiling they weren't seeing now somebody's listening right now and you've been hoping for something I want you to think about what you've been hoping for. Just take a brief moment of silence here. Think about what you're hoping for something in your health finances. You've been asking God but you haven't gotten it yet now picture that in your mind now I want you to feel even your frustration your anger your inability to move forward your obstacle that's what toil feels like you're not breaking through so you're starting to lose you're losing hope you're losing faith you're not believing in that spot. Because you keep asking and it's not happened now I want you to picture it finished as though it's happened already thing that's frustrating you picture it complete perfect All right. Now hold on to that right there. Hold on to that increase this finances there relationship that hell that apartment hold on to it right now God's going to shift you into a being finished completely. You can see it finished. He says I want you to believe me again. One more time. Now I want you to repent. When should ask him for forgiveness for how you got so frustrated or angry or felt like If you couldn't do it, talk to him about that right now. Is what's happening is all those forces are being broken off this hindering forces. You say, Lord, forgive me. I didn't believe you. So sorry, father. Shift right now into faith. Faith is a substance now feel that faith right now it's a substance. You can touch it. You should be crossing over to where it's done. That thing is hole. It's not missing. It's not broken. Glory right now, glory. Okay, now you should be breathing easier. And you're shifting into glory. You're shifting into glory right there. That's the release. Right there. See, he's gonna do it. Now. He's just start asking Joy right there. He's gonna do it. Because your faith in his faith had become one. Now you're sure right there. In the mighty name of Jesus. Glory. Hallelujah. worthy man. Jesus, whoa, do you feel that John?

I definitely feel lighter. And I feel joy. And just, there's more hope. Again, you know, the things that I've been hoping for and praying for and believing for. It's hard to hold on to some of those things whenever you don't see that. But I just felt like, like, I just got a shot of energy and a shot of peace and a shot of just faith again. And wow.

Wow. And that's Luke, chapter five folks. Just read it. Right there. That's exactly where Jesus took them. See, John, you're not toiling anymore, right. No more toil. You're not concerned. You know, you're gonna make some phone calls. Those that are listening. You're gonna just make some phone calls you're gonna do you got your strategies. And guess what? It's flow and see everything that blocked that up right now. It's been removed every hindrance and blockade, every enemy formed against you prosper, and that that was prospering is no longer prospering it is now been bound. In the mighty name of Jesus, no enemy formed against you shall prosper. Glory, you know, entered dunamis power, in your weakness. He's come forth. Hallelujah. Glory. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.

Thank you, Candace, for leading us through that they taking the Word of God and what they were experiencing then. And really focusing on that and bringing practical application in a spiritual way. That's really what you just did. You didn't take us through something that was mystical, or you weren't casting any spells or doing anything weird. You read the Bible, you told the story. And we just dissected it that's really meditating on the Word of God. And what we feel, as we're meditating on the Word of God is an encounter with him. And there's, there's more to that, but I'm just kind of summarizing that. And I'll definitely be putting the link to canvasses site, and what she mentioned in the Episode Notes, so that you can just click that and it'll take you right to her site. And you can learn more about that. I always enjoy having the opportunity to talk with you this and just to you're one of those people that every time I'm with you, I, whether it be virtually or in person, I feel like I'm closer to Jesus as a result of being with you. So and thank you so much for sharing your story of how God's brought you from this little nine year old girl who lost her daddy to, to now somebody that's in love with a father, and you have a powerful relationship with Jesus and the Holy Spirit that way. And thank you for being obedient to do what God has called you to do. And even taking a step back and not using the gifts, because God's challenged you to rely more on Him and allow Him to be your strength as you're weak. So thank you so much for being here and allowing us to join you along your way.

Thank you, John, so much. I'm so excited to have the opportunity to be here and minister to your listeners, and it really was an honor. So we'll have to do it again. For sure.

I would love that. I would love that. Thank you very much. Thank you for listening