John Paul Jackson. Unlocking Heaven’s Power. Daystar, 2015.

I once attended a conference in which John Paul Jackson was a speaker. Even though it was over 20 years ago, I still recall some things he shared. He had a widely recognized ministry. A book we reviewed a few years ago speaks highly of him. Unlocking Heaven’s Power was published posthumously from notes. For that reason, it may not be his final draft, but even so, it is a powerful and encouraging book.

If anyone reads the New Testament, he or she understands that faith in God is a key to experiencing the power of God—heaven’s power. Still, this is not a word of faith “name it and claim it” book. This really examines two things, what faith is and who the believer is in Christ.

Oddly enough, fear and faith share the same basic root: both are the belief that something is going to happen. Faith is the belief that something good is going to happen, while fear is the belief that something bad is going to happen. (7-8)

And, yes, faith is taking someone at his word. So faith in God is taking God at His Word, especially His revealed Word in Scripture and sometimes a specific word to the person or group.

A key chapter, and perhaps a key concept of the book, is titled “The Moment of Choice.” Jackson notes that people are constantly faced with choices, many of them moral in nature. Even the lapsed Unitarian Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Our whole lives are startlingly moral.” So, yes, choose life, choose God’s way, enter into His covenant.

The book then describes in some inspiring detail what it means to live in covenant with God. When Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is within you,” (Luke 17:20-21 NKJV) He was not addressing some New Age navel-gazing mantra. He was expressing the reality for any believer who has the Holy Spirit.

The message of this book is inspired. Oh, I say and pray, let me live like this. The more aware we are of God’s presence, the more we will understand and share His power. Jackson uses the illustration of Elisha being attacked by the Syrian army. Elisha’s servant was scared, but Elisha was relaxed. He prayed that his servant’s eyes be opened, and his servant saw that their valley was surrounded by chariots of fire. Elisha had God’s vision.

Jackson emphasizes that God is the creator. He has authority over everything. Anything that is not God was created by Him. Therefore, He has authority over it. If we are part of His Kingdom, we can share in and be protected by that authority.

Like other teachers—Watchman Nee (Ni To-Sheng) comes to mind—Jackson notes that man has a body, a soul, and a spirit. The spirit is the eternal part that relates to God. The root of the spiritual battle everyone faces is in the mind, the soul. The soul is torn many times between the body (or the flesh) and the spirit. If we choose Jesus and His way, we choose the spiritual side, and our soul can experience God’s Kingdom. As many have said, our mind is the battleground. See II Corinthians 10:3-6.

Because this is based on an unpublished manuscript that Jackson was working on when he died, this may not be the way a final copy would have been. I did note one slight problem. The books quotes Romans 7:14-18 and says that the word translated flesh is the Greek word psyche, or soul (25). I looked those verses up in a Greek New Testament, and the word is sark, not psyche. It is flesh, not soul. (For what it is worth, sark is the root of the English word sarcastic, which literally means “flesh tearing.”) It is a minor point and does not detract from the overall ministry this book can effect.

Let your Kingdom come—to our minds. Let us see things the way You do, Lord. Amen.