When the Prophetic is formed in YOU

Father allows us to go thru difficult experiences to develop understanding; to find answers to grasp the times and the seasons with wisdom.  As I age I see the tapestry, the patterns that create depth of understanding we are destined to develop if we will just listen to Him.

Many people come up thru hard times. Do not despise the hard times you have had.  It has set you a place where when others come to with that situation, you can grasp where they are in the moment.  It's a gift God gives when he redeems you from the pit. Think of the depth of understanding Daniel had after the lion's den.  Look at the place of authority the 3 Hebrew children were given after they emerged from the fiery furnace.  Look at the depth of Jeremiah after the pit experience.  God allows experience to form us for the prophetic purpose you carry.

Don't ever let difficult times convince you that you are unqualified, unspiritual or passed over by God.  NO, you were being prepared for such a time as this.  Speak with confidence of the goodness of God.  Speak with authority.  Nothing happens without redemption for HIS purposes as we live in the Love of God and according to His purposes in our calling.

I look at my life and recognize the hard situations that have prepared me to minister to people who are facing just such a difficult time.  That is what forms an Issachar anointing to understand the times and seasons.  It's the depths of life hammered out on the anvil of experience that amplifies the oracles of God.  These stroke of the hammer on life's anvil that have made me who I am as a Prophet.

• Orphaned at 14 years old - I know what it means to find new family
• Worked a farm to learn persistence; to know crop failure is not permanent.
• Saw failure and success in my family helping me know nothing is perfect
• Have had periods of poverty that gives me understanding of what poor means
• Personal Marriage Problems gives me insight into marriage solutions for others
• Trading in the markets for losses and gains forced me to learn economics well
• Comprises with addictions that showed me that Life without Jesus has no future.
• Getting saved in my 30s resulted a zeal for truth like the Apostle Paul
• Close calls in my health that gives me confidence in the healing power of God
• Discovering the Plumb-line of God in my life that reminds me constantly how far I am from it.
• Knowing the accuracy of the Word of God gives me confidence in HIM without doubts
• Dealing with failure yet hearing the promises of God in my ear and seeing it come to pass.
• Knowing how to abase and abound without fear of the future.
• Living in many countries taught me to accept and understand cultures
• Executive of several large organizations and forming others from nothing developed courage
• Learning to lean on God's wisdom in my life in finance.  Living simply, a fasted lifestyle.
• Learning to always take the low end of the table and allow God to exalt me as HE will.
• Knowing when to cut off some relationships and build on others.

All these and many more developed a Biblical world view, a plum-line of God's truth and a level of understanding that has created the courage to speak into situations and cultures with a sense that God's grace has created a specific prophetic word that flows out of the heart of God.

When considering these things, the Prophet Amos (who also worked in agriculture) is a type that I find myself agreeing with prophetically.

^{Amos 7:7-9}

 God showed me this vision: My Master was standing beside a wall. In his hand he held a plumb line.

God said to me, “What do you see, Amos?”
I said, “A plumb line.”
Then my Master said, “Look what I’ve done. I’ve hung a plumb line in the midst of my people. I’ve spared them for the last time. This is it!
“Isaac’s sex-and-religion shrines will be smashed,
Israel’s unholy shrines will be knocked to pieces.

I know like Amos the prophet there are many times I speak in opposition to cultural and governmental error the has deviated far from the plumb-line of God's best for His people.  It's often unpopular.  It's often controversial.  It's often seen by many as angry.  Amos said as much:

Amos 5:10-15
People hate this kind of talk.
    Raw truth is never popular.
But here it is, bluntly spoken:
    Because you run roughshod over the poor
    and take the bread right out of their mouths,
You’re never going to move into
    the luxury homes you have built.
You’re never going to drink wine
    from the expensive vineyards you’ve planted.
I know precisely the extent of your violations,
    the enormity of your sins. Appalling!
You bully right-living people,
    taking bribes right and left and kicking the poor when they’re down.

Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic.
    Decent people throw up their hands.
Protest and rebuke are useless,
    a waste of breath.

Seek good and not evil—
    and live!
You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    being your best friend.
Well, live like it,
    and maybe it will happen.

Hate evil and love good,
    then work it out in the public square.
Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    will notice your remnant and be gracious.

It's time for the Prophets of God to speak boldly in the public square (yes that means politics), Speak boldly of God's Plumb-line (Cultural and Moral) and speak directly to the economics of our society (Justice). Without that voice, what hope do we have? I will follow my brother Prophet Amos' lead and speak loudly and clearly. There will be many that will stop up their ears. It's not popular to have an Amos speak when most of the people are intentionally blind and deaf.  They will enter into judgement of God. He will not be Mocked. He will remove the lampstands from their assembly. Quoting the words of Amos...thus saith "the God-of-the-Angel-Armies".

The Great Fault Line of Racial Divide (written in July 2013)

I wrote this a couple of years ago.. it seemed like a good time to repost it.  There is much truth here:

I have recently been given a fresh look at the roots of our racial divide in America. This came as a prophetic download while I was staying in a motel right on top of the New Madrid fault in MO. The place where what is considered the greatest continental earthquake took place in the early 1800s. IF it happened again in the same place with the same intensity, hundreds, perhaps thousands would die. The Lord spoke to me of the fault and what lies beneath.

Looking at it on the surface there appears to be no difference in the geography of the area around New Madrid than anywhere else. Flat open farm fields growing corn and soybeans. Like much of IL and IA.  Bucolic. Peaceful.

Yet deep below the surface there is tension.  One plate pushing against another. Tension that builds until it cannot tolerate any more, in a sudden deadly movement the earth experiences violent upheaval that shakes everything that can be shaken.

What you see on the surface is not reality.  It's a cloak. It's a cover.  It gives a false sense of security that has no basis in fact.

This divide, this earthquake took place on the most southern point of the Mason Dixon Line.  The earthquake took place before the civil war.  Here is a photo of that line.

If you look at the lowest point of the state of IL, just to the left of that point in MO is where the epicenter of the quake was.

The war between the states that cost so much life was preceded by the upheaval on New Madrid.

The problem is that the tension must be relieved or it will continue to build until a catastrophic event exhausts the pressure.

This is what I am seeing in our racial and economic divide in the USA.  What I am about to describe is a both way tension.  Just like the fault line at New Madrid is not one plate or another fault, it is the differential that matters. So, this is about race intolerance which goes both ways.

There are 5 levels of racism and intolerance.. much of America lives in the bottom two:

Level ONE - INTOLERANCE: Beneath the polite surface there are people overtly intolerant of any of another race.  Truly outspoken racists.  This is a smaller number than people believe, but they are there.  It's not OK to be this way and so in order to avoid being ostracized people keep their mouth shut.

Level TWO - TOLERANCE: These are people who tolerate others, obey the law, but don't engage the other race.  They are on the surface normal looking, but beneath the surface they harbor a low level resentment.  IF you could pry open their brains you would find racial resentment there.

Level THREE - ACCEPTANCE: These are people who recognize you can't unring a bell.  That the ship has sailed.  They might rather that we didn't have what we have in America, but we do.  We must live together.  They accept that fact.  They are not begrudging.  They are willing to be part of this world.  They smile.  They are friendly.  They'll be peaceful.  They may wonder why there are the separations.. yet they maintain borders.  They will play pool together, play touch football together, have some surface friends in other racial groups. But for the most part their level of racial division is that border invisible fence they keep around themselves.  Many white liberal Americans live in this never never land.  They voted "right" in 2008 and pride themselves on their lack of racism.  YET.. they are not engaged.

Level FOUR - ENGAGEMENT:  These are people who have made a conscious decision to integrate themselves into a relational community with those who do not share a cultural or racial similarity.  They want to know, understand and appreciate the people who did not grow up exactly as they did.  This takes intellectual honesty. It's not easy. It becomes more difficult when we find ourselves face to face with resistance when intentions are sincere.

Level FIVE - INTEGRATION = Assimilation:  This word has been so badly used and abused. True integration involves assimilation, celebration and unification built on our commonality.  You can't do this loading kids on a bus and hauling them across town by forced integration.  It must be with full equanimity.  This final stage is the final barrier to relieving the stress that could lead to an earthquake.  If the New Madrid plate materials slowly crumbled their resistances and melded into one another the threat of a next quake would be gone.  It is the unwillingness to assimilate that is at the root of the problem.  Making a demand to maintain distinct identity outside of the community of assimilation has maintained an unwelcome division.

Assimilation must be both ways.  The entertainment and sports world have shown that there is the potential for assimilation in music.  A white basketball player is an anomaly today.  We celebrate those stars.  Yet much of the tension and tracked that drive racist thinking is an unwillingness to assimilate and celebrate one another leading to a new community unification.

In my recent travels I was exposed to level ONE and TWO racism.  It shocked me.  When I was with those of great wealth I saw level Three.  Sadly, as rare as Level one is in today's society, Levels Four and Five are just as rare.   It's like a sad dance from a forced marriage. Keeping our distance as we dance to different drums.

Here's the raw truth of the matter, Racism is rampant; it is Black on White, White on Black, White on Indian (native American), Indian on White, Hispanic on White, White on Hispanic, Black on Hispanic, Hispanic on Black and a half dozen other nuances that keep us dangerously divided.

IF we don't get to level's Four and Five with one another, we may see another upheaval, natural and cultural.  The depths to which we have fallen in our racial divide in this country corresponding to the election of a half black/white president has become a shame that stains our nation.

His election that caused many to celebrate, has caused those same people grief at the depths of rejection of the ideal this election held.  This will take everyone recognizing the racist depths to which we have fallen.  Recent events have demonstrated how much division there is.  No matter the truth IF you are strongly racially identified, you may have fallen to become a level one or two racist.  At this dangerous depth there is only that contains the frictions that will result in another quake.   It's time to start to come up higher.

10 Ways You Can Know the Future

Prophecy is not just about the future, but sometimes it is.

So how do we know? How can a person who has prophetic giftings know the future?

There are 10 Ways:

1. There are historic cycles in Scripture.  If you study the word, you will see certain patterns that happen again and again.  How people behave, what happens in a trend, what truths prove out again and again.  Holy Spirit will highlight them to you as you are waiting on Him for wisdom.

2. You may have an actual vision of what things will be like.  It won't be driven by fear but by a reaction to a set of circumstances that jell in your minds eye.  If it's fear driven it will not be true.  If your vision is hope alone it's not likely to be true.  It must come impartially.

3. You will get a word.. usually just one.  By expanding that word you will develop a prophetic picture that defines what will happen in the future. 

4. You will be reading something or hearing something and it will or won't ring true.  You'll get a knowing.  It might be a news story.  Something that should be impartial and suddenly you will know the end of a thing. It's instant Revelation.

5. Anything that sounds in your spirit like a movie or TV drama will nearly always be wrong.. filter that quickly.  Hollywood has a habit of infecting prophetic people.  Be careful.

6. Sometimes you will be promoted to write something down, and then review it a few days later.  That will define the word you are getting.  It's prophetic process.

7. Things are constantly changing.. but God never changes.  Look to His grace and mercy as a measure for what you see in the future. Lever what you see with God's immutability.

8. Be careful not to be influenced by other prophetic voices.  It's good to have a prophetic presbytery in personal prophecy, but not in prophesying the future.  I am wary of conferences that prophetically try to say what is going to happen in the year to come with many prophets speaking.  The prophetic should not be by committee.  It doesn't mean people won't often get the same confirming word, but you are responsible for what God gives you alone.

9. Be bold in proclaiming what God shows you. I have prophesied things that were strangely prescient.. my only regret was not being bold enough when I heard.  Not every event that happens in the world is your responsibility to prophesy.  You may not prophesy every earthquake or hurricane.  But you may prophesy a few.  When you are given an impression.. speak it out.  You will develop trust in your gift only by doing so.

10. Don't be impatient or impulsive in your prophetic instincts.  Waiting on the Lord is the key to hearing from Him.  He tells the prophets before He does things, you may even be included, but not if you are not quiet before him.

Prophets Prophesy!!

Life is short.. eternity is NOW

We are but a vapor. Like a blade of grass.  Here today?  Then gone in our body.

Then we are in the Presence of the Lord forever.  Except it is all now.

Never changing.. Glory to Glory


There are scriptural evidences and testimonies of a some who have witnessed these things to help us grasp what happens.  We can construct what it will be like using clues with Biblical support.

The song “I can only imagine”, as wonderful as it is, comes short of the mark. We can imagine and if we can grasp the vision, fear will dissolve.

The moment that thief Jesus promised died and all people who die in Christ, the moment you die here's what happens:

There is a shock into well being.  We suddenly feel indescribable peace.  Beyond all understanding.  It's overwhelms us.  We can hardly take it in.  There is the unimaginable beauty.  It is a manifestation of the fullness of Jesus beauty. Every color comes so alive that we can taste it.  In fact we will taste colors.  Music is everywhere.  All at once.

This is eternity where everything is now.  So our experience in non linear.  It's all now.  Hard for those of us trapped in time to grasp, but to get a small glimpse of what that might be like, think back to a wonderful childhood memory.  A good one.  Think of it.  All the color, music, joy, fun, and love you felt. Now let that emotion come over you.  You see it not in linear fashion but as one good memory, all at once.  The parts you really enjoyed come back again and again.  That's a bad imitation of what eternity is like.  All at once, but able to be parceled out.

People ask what kind of music will I hear?  It will be your fullness of joy to experience... whatever fits your moment will be heard. For some hymns, for some chants, for some choruses, for some classical, for some a gospel song, or even a joyful rap.  It's your eternity and Father will speak to you in the context you understand.  You will grasp that it's all one.  Yet differentiable, yet we will not know of the differences others have.

You will have unspeakable joy.  No remembrances from earth that have contain any regret or pain... the pain you had in life will fit into your understanding and there will be no questions.  The Idea that you are going to ask questions of Jesus when you get there will be needless.  You will have full understanding of all.  You will know who you really are.  There will be no more self doubt.

How you fit into the whole while on earth will make perfect sense in a supernatural way.  That is why there is no recognized hierarchy in heaven.  One saint is as another.  Fullness and fitly joined together.

This sudden recognition of your important place in the universe will take your breath away.

Your capacity for experience will multiply a thousand times or more.  You will experience heaven as if you had 5000 senses instead of 5.  Every color, every sound, every taste, everything you hear, everything you feel, and the fragrance... it will be amazing.  You will understand what a vapid colorless place life on earth was.  You won't regret it...but wish everyone could experience what you are experience.

You will live without confusion. No questions. Your desire will be to worship.  It will all be so clear.  Bowing in worship, raising hands.  Singing.  The Sea of Glass is a desire hidden in the hearts of men. We want to be there. Whatever we do will make all the sense...in heaven. It will be automatic.  You will want to enter into who HE is so completely as to be lost in Him.  You were created for this.  The beauty of Jesus will be revealed again and again. It will be all one but eternal.  It will never be boring. Love will be overwhelming.

You will have a form.  A spirit form.  Yet you will look to others as you were remembered best.  Known as you were known. Recognized... yet it is your spirit that they see.. the rest is construct.  In fact you have only a spirit.

It's hard to explain, but you won't have arms, legs or a head as you know yourself, but to those who see you, you will look as you did to them.

I know that's hard to understand but think of a child who dies young.  Her daddy is 25 years old.  She will see him thus.  His brother who dies at 50 will remember him as about his age and his wife who follows him in death will see that man thru the eyes of love. His mother who bore him and died in childbirth will see him as a young boy.  They will all know him, but all in context and construct.  Its how people who die see grandparents and such waiting for them... as they knew them.

It will not seem an unfamiliar place to be explored.  You will already know all about it.  It will seem normal, someplace you already knew.  In a strange way, heaven was always in your heart.

You have had glimpses of it.  This is why the idea of reincarnation keeps coming up in false religions.  There is a sense of going back, so people try to explain the origin of all life (JESUS saying let there be) as a reincarnation.  It's not.  But it is a type of returning... Remember, once there, all here is now.

To grasp this scripturally, you are already seated in heavenly places with Christ Jesus...yet you are here. In that way you return to heaven.

It is impossible to describe so those who have had a glimpse of Heaven are lost for words.

One thing is certain, once you have been there and come back the fear of death, even the fear of the pain of death is gone.

People don't GO to heaven.  They enter heaven.  Heaven is infinite in proximity.  Right here. Right there.  Just there.  It is easier to think of it a long long away somehow out there, but it's here. Not on earth, well kind of.  More on that in the last post.

When people die they step from the cloak of time into the uncloaking of eternity.  We are locked in a box called time and enter into an unlimited vista called NOW..  Eternity.

There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus OR do we have TOKES?

Back in the early days of the Civil Rights movement we had a word.  TOKEN or as it became.. Toke.

A Toke was a person of a different race included in an advertisement, a play, a movie, a presentation, anything... to show how inclusive we all are.  It was a sham.. but it made people feel better.  Yet those of us on the front lines knew better.  TOKES.

Of course when we would talk of this in private, my black friends would say to me, "At least the brother has a job, toke or not". We would laugh.. but we all believed that those days would end in our lifetime. Those were during the Halcyon years before MLK was murdered.  We were optimists. Now most of us are old.  Some of us are gone. Many of us are just watching the passing parade.  It never came to pass.

TV still has tokes, black, white and Asian.  Not often is there portrayal of how it really is.

The place where tokenism is most expressed today is in the church.  We have BLACK churches, we have WHITE churches. We have Hispanic churches.  We have Korean churches.  If there is a language problem, I get that.  I wouldn't preach well in a Spanish or Korean church.

Yet, I not the multitude of conferences, special services, special events put on by various organizations.   They are either mostly all white, or all black.  Last I looked we pretty much spoke the same language.  Why is that?  Why are there no BLACK preachers in White Churches.  Why are there no White preachers in Black Churches.  OH sure, I can point to a few of each.. but it's few and far between.  We are self segregating worse than ever.

It's not that we aren't welcome in each other's venue.. we just don't.  Crusaders where I frequent, is still 95% black.  Very seldom does a white man grace the platform.

Lord of Life where I attend many Sundays is 99% white and if we have a Black speaker he is a nice man who hasn't been inside a black congregation for 30 years. Black in skin only.

IF we are ever going to bridge the cultural divide we need to run towards the division that keeps us from fulfilling what Paul talked about. We might not be Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female, But even if we are one in Christ Jesus we are divided clearly along color lines.  The most segregated you can imagine.

Every black pastor I know would love to invite more white people to be part of the celebration. Every white pastor I know would love to have more black people to come in.  But we don't.  And because we self segregate we don't.

It's NOT completely cultural. Some black pastors yell and talk so fast so that most white people have no idea what is being said, and white people drone on and on so that for many the main benefit of the sermon is a nap.

Then there's the music.  Black congregations are enthusiastic, participate, sing out, pray.. (frankly I love this a lot).  White congregations give their music leader about 13 minutes to bring down the anointing or you're fired.  

Sure there are exemptions.  I know many.. but we MUST bridge this gap or we have to tear that Galatian passage out of our Bibles.

We must run to stop this.  Let's do so by inviting those who are different to minister. IF you point to a handful of white ministers who preach in your conferences but sound exactly like most black ministers, that's token, fake diversity.  When the Tokes in the old days showed up as Black in a white surrounding, they acted fully white. Exactly like happens in the church (one way or the other).

IF a white congregation brings in a black minister to speak who sounds like any white boy.. we don't have diversity we have a TOKEN.

I don't know if this is prophetic or not, but it was on my heart since early this morning.. and I offer it to you.

So who will run to the battle?

Proving Prayer Works.. can we?

I was thinking about and distressed by the advance of evil in Isis and the executions of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  There are too many videos already. 

I was feeling helpless.  Sure I can pray.. but I'm one man, one praying man, but I'm just me.  I know there are others.  I understand.  But then I think of episodes in the Book of Acts where people prayed in agreement and things happened.

• Doorposts were shaken by corporate prayer
• Peter's miraculous release from Jail by an Angel of the Lord
• Paul and Silas in Prison and the doors fly open

There were other episodes but those three stand out.

What if we were to all at one time cry out in unison in corporate prayer for God to bring justice to those about to be martyred?  I'm not talking about calling down fire.  I'm talking about somehow joining in agreement touching this situation.

I'm not calling a meeting.  I'm not trying to start something.  I'm just wondering, do we still believe prayer works, that it moves the hand of God, that God can and will do something in the innocents behalf if we stand in the gap for them.

Nothing prophetic about this..... but I wonder.   Can we prove prayer works?  I think so.

A Prophet Judges other Ascension Gifts

I know this is controversial, so I'm going to wade right in.

Prophets should be in the business of the identification of giftings.  They are uniquely equipped to say to this one, you are the man, and to another, "have you no more sons?"  They should be ready to identify and pour the oil of anointing on the ones called of God, and to withhold (without offense) those not called.  It is for this reason that the idea of Apostles ordaining Apostles is out of order. That's another issue. 

Many people I know hold themselves out as Apostles, Evangelists, Prophets, Teachers and Pastors.  Many of them are not legitimate. They are pretenders. They are found out soon enough. I don't call them out.. their gift either makes a way for them, or they don't have a gift.

I won't relate the incidences to you, but more than once I have had to set a so called apostle down.  I can think of 5 times in the last few years where I went to one who carried the moniker and said, "God didn't call you to this, it is better if you fill the office he DID call you to".  And they stepped down.  They knew what I said was true. A few are still friends of mine, some are even on FB.  Most of the time they were called to be a Pastor, or Teacher and in one case an evangelist. It was a gift to be rightly placed.

On the other hand, I know a handful of Prophets (they know who they are) who I have told off camera that God indeed called them into this, that they are the real deal and they have a critical role to play.

Most of the time I will acknowledge a so called apostle without saying anything unless they are about to become dangerous to the Body of Christ.  Then I must do what a prophet does.

I am not superior, nor was Samuel, just called to identify or uproot.

I know some real apostles, they are extraordinary and I am glad to know them. The others I won't interfere until it becomes an issue and God calls me to set them down. Not a role I desire or want, but it is critical in this day and age of rampant deception.

So, how do I know in the Spirit who is or is not called?  It's not that hard:

• Have they had a supernatural encounter with God they can relate to me?
• Do they have supernatural evidence of the office they claim to hold that backs them up?
• Is there fruit of building GOD's Kingdom (not their own) in their ministry?
• How important is their title (it's inversely important for the called)?
• When was the last time they had a Jesus encounter.? He's not that hard to see
• If I were to be in their service, what role does MONEY play in their service?
• How much do the truly love those entrusted to them and how do they show it?

There are more, but after a while it become easy to spot the pretenders from the real thing. I am not sorry for the interventions I have been involved in. I won't violate the mandate from the King.  Yet.. I respect those who are trying.. but if you get out of line, expect the troubler of Israel to show up and it might not me be. There are other prophets out on the front lines.... and if they come to you and say, Apostle, we need to talk.. you had best listen.

God might be solidifying your true calling.

Life on Earth isn't Normal

I was in pain this morning after a restless night. I'm not complaining, it's the way it is.  I asked the Lord what was up with that.  He reminded me that life on earth isn't the normative for eternity. 

Most things we struggle with here are not there.  When we as the Lord to touch our existence "on earth as it is in heaven",  we are doing something supernatural.  We are asking him to change circumstances that are acceptable here on earth.

Here are some things we accept here:

• Pain
• Sickness
• Disappointment
• Struggle
• Persecution
• Discrimination
• Anger
• Lack
• Tears
• Loss
• Sadness, Discouragement, Depression

In fact all the things that make life hard here, are not THERE.  We all were born with eternity in our hearts. Therefore when difficult times come we are disparaged and saddened.  It's not as it should be at least compared to what is in our hearts. 

 God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end.  Ecclesiastes 3:11

What makes it doubly hard is sometimes we have had halcyon times where heaven and earth came together for a moment.  May have been in worship, prayer, fellowship or some time when you so sensed the presence of God that you could do no other.

Heaven touched earth.  You have never been the same. What is even more painful are those who have actually had a glimpse, a Revelation of heaven and yet are stuck here.  I met one such the other day.  God apparently does give some people a glimpse of heaven’s glory. The Apostle Paul told of being “caught up to paradise”, where he experienced “inexpressible things” (2 Corinthians 12:4).


So this morning as I began to start the day, I was reminded that this isn't normal, I shouldn't be here in this situation in this circumstance. This abnormal existence is temporary and normal is eternal. 

Don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.
2 Corinthians 4:18

Inside Out will turn the WORLD Upside Down

I heard this morning that the only change possible is from the inside out.  There was such a song,  Hillsong. 

Yet, there is a truth in it that is deeper and wider than most of us are willing to admit.  On a personal level change has to start with the innermost being.  The heart.  Unless there is a heart change nothing else can change. 

Then there is the "out of your innermost being" part of us.. the part that must be filled to flow.  From the inside out.

Eventually that becomes a change of mind.  Without a change of heart no change of mind can occur.

To this point I can hear you say, so what, "everybody knows that". (Geico commercial)

To change a city you have to change people who make up the city. You don't do that by telling them what's wrong with them or the city, but by infiltrating for change from the inside out.  If people are not challenged, encouraged, confronted, instructed, directed, towards a better life, they won't go.  That means less telling and more showing.  It requires personal involvement.  That's the hard part.

To change a State, you have to have cities that demonstrate how the personal heart changes, that lead to mind changes that lead to city changes have manifested.  It starts inside and grows out.

That's why a large demonstration against cruelty, aberration, illegality never works.  If the enemy has so captured the hearts and minds of those who are bent on doing what they do, no amount of protest ever changes anything. It begins at the heart.

One must take back the reigns from the deceived.  This must be done from the inside out.  This is infiltration. They cannot be allowed to form the agenda.  This is not about politics, this is about cultural decline and degradation.  The devil learned long ago how to creep into peoples hearts for evil and make the reset of the mind to allow people to think it is OK to act and think like that.  Look around you, you see it all around.

The pattern the Lord is calling for to reach the world is infiltration, not confrontation.  Even Islam, as evil as it is, can only be reversed by infiltration.  Sure war kills off the radical..but leaves the rest in sin and abandon.

It was said of the brothers in Acts 17:3  -- "And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also"

How did they earn that accusation?  It wasn't by protest, it wasn't by anything other than infiltrating the hearts and minds of lost souls.

What the Lord is asking ME today is, "Do you have what it takes to turn the world upside down?"
"Do you love enough to let me change their hearts thru your infiltration of their lives?"

Revelation is God's will, but the timing is in His HANDS

I sometimes am frustrated by the fact that I am not hearing.  I think it must be me. Then I think of the men walking to Emmaus.  Jesus could have said right away... hey, it's ME!  But he developed Revelation till they got it.

He does the same with me..

Sometimes I walk with Him, hear his voice, know it's him, but other than His fellowship I don't get a revelation.

I have learned to wait.  Without impatience.  It's not my fault. It's not anyone's fault that sometimes it's just quiet. I know He is constantly speaking.. and if my ears were open, if my eyes were clear I would hear better and more.

There are reasons, busy, stress, difficulty, pain, fatigue. 

Then BAM  he come with glorious truth and Revelation.  Seems like it's his plan to play a bit of hide and seek with me.  I don't mind.  When the truth comes it will seem so sweet, so refreshing, like a cold drink of water on a hot day.

Evenso.. come Lord Jesus.. I need to hear your voice.  It's so sweet to my ears.  Hungry I am.

The Truth of Return IN Christ

There is a lot of speculation about the end times, the return of Christ, tribulation, mark of the beast.  Much disagreement remains about all that.  It has clouded the issue.

The Return of Christ is not as important as the return IN Christ.

Christians, even Prophets, Evangelists, Apostles, Teachers, Pastors have to intentionally return to Christ.  I heard the Lord say today.."I would that all people who have been called by My name return to their first love, return to Me and I will heal them once again". 

This is not about Salvation, if we look at the story of the Prodigal Son, the Father always was ready to recieve his son back when he returned.  Our Father is the same.  Even when we drift in our efforts to walk this out, He says RETURN.  The door is open.  I will take you back.  You are welcome.

Jesus in Revelation 2:4 told the church at Ephesus to return to their first love. He is telling us that today.  Examine yourself and return.  To put that in perspective, Paul the Apostle planted and nurtured that Church.  Ephesians was written to them.  Timothy was put in place as the Leader when Paul left and he wrote two letters to Timothy.  It was built on Disciples of John (Acts 19).  This was a well led church that long established went cold. 

And Jesus told them to return. How much more you and me?

He's saying that to us today, return.  The prophets of old were constant in calls for return.  If the word they brought then has any meaning, it says to me.. and you, that we are in need of returning. 

Isaiah 44:22
"I have wiped out your transgressions like a thick cloud And your sins like a heavy mist Return to Me, for I have redeemed you." 

Hosea 14:1
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

Zechariah 1:3
"Therefore say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "Return to Me," declares the LORD of hosts, "that I may return to you," says the LORD of hosts.

2 Chronicles 30:9
"For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before those who led them captive and will return to this land For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him."

Jeremiah 24:7
'I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

Lamentations 3:40
Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

Hosea 6:1
"Come, let us return to the LORD For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.

Hosea 12:6
Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually.









Come let us return unto the Lord

Resting In HIM Sometimes Means SLEEP

A prophetic truth is to rest.. there is a spiritual rest spoken of in Hebrews 4

Hebrews 4:9 There is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. ¹⁰ For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. ¹¹ So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.

 There is much there.  It's true.  But one of the ways that God gives us his special rest is when we REST.  Sleep.  You hear about someone "sleeping on it". You know that your brain during sound sleep rewires itself to become able to sort things out.  There is a "New Every Morning Mercy" that comes when you greet a new day with yesterday's cares.  Sometimes in the edge of the morning when you are half asleep and half awake you will hear clearly the Voice of God reassuring you, helping you, convincing you.  It's what he does.

After all the Word says that he does battle for you while you sleep. Working things out.

 Psalms 127:2   It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late, To eat the bread of painful labors; For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.

  Jeremiah 31:26  At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.

 Proverbs 3:21-24 My son, let them not vanish from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion, So they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck. Then you will walk in your way securely And your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.

The danger to a believer is to make decisions or take actions deep in the night.  Somehow there seems to be much evil afoot after 11PM.   I see so many who get into trouble, are shot, robbed, injured and killed at 3AM.   Did you ever wonder why Midnight is called the Witching Hour?

 1 Thessalonians 5:7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.

 

Many failures I have had were because of impulsive things I have done late at night, or when very tired, exasperated, exhausted, tempted and sometimes angered.

This morning the Lord said to me, "Don't allow the pressures of the day when I am not at the front of your mind allow you to drift from my will for you".  

It was a reassurance that His will towards me is only good.  That I can depend on him.  That I can Rest in Him. 

It's not the most profound prophetic truth.. but it is truth and it is what the Lord told ME this morning.  Maybe it's also for you.

Jeremiah 31:26

At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant to me.
- See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Sleep,-Physical#sthash.6pSCFYi9.dpuf

When Prophetic Words I bring are for Me too

I was ministering Tuesday night.   About a dozen people received a word from the Lord.

I usually don't recall what the Lord says thru me. I'm just a vehicle.  It comes, I give it and it's over.  Sorta like speaking in tongues.. You don't remember what was said.  Just that you spoke.

However there were two things that I heard as the words came that I have been encouraged by myself.  A young lady came to me.  Butterfly was the word that opened the prophetic door.  As I poured out to her it was so encouraging how she was emerging, beautiful, flying, finding rest.  As it came to a place of intermission I said to her, that is so good I am going to lay hands on myself for that word.  We laughed but it was true.  Sometimes when a word is rich it ministers to me too.  Like the Lord is saying, "this is for her, but you need to hear this too".

Later another person came and the word for him was "not yet".  Delay is not no.  The right thing is just delayed.  Don't be discouraged. Don't give up.  It's not over.  Good enough is not my plan for you. 

Again as he walked away encouraged, I was too.  I needed to hear that word. I do once again today.  There have been some hard things for me recently.  It's easy to become discouraged.  If there is any hope or encouragement it comes for me wrapped up in the prophetic gift.

People need the word of the Lord.  Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

As we feed others we are fed.

Proverbs 22:9 The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

Religious things we do like Repent Every Day

I heard the Lord say to me, "Repentance is for unsaved sinners". 

It was a little stunning.  I had to allow time for the download to come.  There is a place for a Christian to repent of known sins.  The faithful and just God will then CLEANSE us from all unrighteousness.  IF we confess our known sin. 

Yet there are religious things we do. Confessing our sin.. that we don't know about. I was taught this as a young person and accepted that it was appropriate for me to sort of do a general sin of omission and unknown commission repentance.  Then I had to receive some kind of absolution. 

In churches next Sunday Christians of all stripes will confess their sins in a rote confession from a book, bulletin or screen.  It's not evil.. but if repentance at it's core means to turn around, then why do we confess?   If we are a Christian and being as obedient as we know to be, are we not on the track?  Headed in the right direction? What is all this confession about? 

If you are a saved follower of Jesus and you sin.. has it been paid for?  Was it paid for at the cross, or do we confess it to get it paid for?  You see the issue.  Confession is a work.. I might even say a dead work.

Now to be fair there is a place for confession when we have something that needs to be dealt with.  Confessing our sins to one another.  I have done it.. so have you.  It's cathartic. Its good.  Yet.. your sins are no more nor less forgiven as a result of the act.  UNLESS We decide to have them retained.  You can be in open rebellion.

The same in communion.  I'm a big communion fan, but it's not about the forgiveness of Sin.. it's ... COMMUNION.  Joining together and communing with the Lord.  When I commune with a friend we share a meal, we talk, we enjoy each other, we give and take, we find peace in fellowship.  How much more does Jesus engage us thus over the communion table.  We touch him, we are in His presence at the communion altar.  It's a good place, but it's much less about sin and forgiveness than it's presented as.

Then there is what we do to usher those into the Kingdom who are afar off.  The ALTAR CALL.  Here's where repentance and renouncing our past rebellion comes in.  There may be a fresh start, a new creation taking place when we truly repent.  Yet, we ask people to raise their hand (I see that hand), come forward, recite a rote prayer, sign a card and assume they have just bought a ticket to heaven.  Nope.  They took a step.  One that will be lifelong.  I'm not critical, I have done it. Maybe it's time to rethink the whole works orientation we have in salvation.  It's either a gift or it's earned.  One is wrong.

Again it's a function of works.  IF I do this, God does that.  Like, there is no salvation without jumping thru the hoops.. doing the works.  Dead Works.

Don't get me wrong there is a place for entering into our salvation.. in visible ways.  Yet that too can become dead works.  I remember a guy who's gone now who used to ask believers to say JESUS CHRIST IS LORD to assure them a place in heaven.  He would do it en mass.  And people did.  His source code for this was

So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.  1 Corinthians 12:3

I'm sure he meant well.. I'm sure he thought people would say it and find comfort.  Yet.. Yup... WORKS.

Then there is prayer.  Prayer of the saints.. Prayer that is efficacious.  Prayer that we cause to happen by rote. The prayer we all learn is the Lord's Prayer.  Teach us to pray.  Instead of it being a road map for effective prayer, it has become pretty much the only prayer many people pray.  It's not bad.. it's just not what Jesus had in mind.   There is great theology in the prayer.  Once again we ask God to forgive.. but there's a hook.  AS I forgive.  We are forgiven.  That's our natural state as a Christian.  What is unnatural is to ask again and again.  In the rosary that may Catholics pray, they say the "Our Father" over and over again.

How many times do we have to ask for forgiveness?

It's works.  For some it is dead works.  We must make our Faith in the TRUE and LIVING GOD to be real, rich and ready to grow.    There is a greater dimension.

One last religious sacred cow needing tipping is the whole idea of works based giving.  IF I give ten buck's it will become a hundred, if I give a thousand it will become ten thousand.  Seed giving. I know the verses, I understand that generosity opens window's of heaven.  It's not the giving that's the issue, it's the heart of the giver that is in question.  How do we do better at giving from our heart of generosity reflecting the righteousness of God alive in our spirit.  Instead we have churches posting lists of people who don't tithe.  If that isn't religious dead works, I don't know what it.

It should be illegal for a senior leader to have a clue as to what anyone in the congregation ever gives. Only one person should know and that should be at a privileged information level.  When a senior leader begins to evaluate people based on giving... they are missing the point.

Let's be less religious about so many things and allow the Spirit of God to move us from whatever darkness we have in Repentance, Communion, Confession, Prayer, Ministry and Giving.  It's his plan.  Let's do it.

The Resurrection, an Eye-Witness account -- David Smith

I have known David for years.  We are friends and co workers in the work of God.  He wrote this and it is worth reading.

Seek the Lord with all our heart, and rely not upon our own understanding, nor the understanding of man.

If you are like me, you have wondered what it would have been like to witness the events of the life of Jesus.

Ask, and you shall receive - if you do not ask amiss. That is what happened to me - the Lord showed me.

I wondered what was happening, in the spiritual realm, during the crucifixion of Jesus. He showed me. It was one of the worst - and most enlightening - visions of my life. Hordes of demons around the cross, and clouds of angels overhead.

I wondered what was happening during the three days that Jesus was in the tomb. Be careful what you ask for - that particular vision remains the worst vision that the Lord has ever shown me.

For three days, the devil won. All hope was lost. The savior was dead. All of mankind, for all the rest of time, was doomed to an eternity without God - without hope - without life. The world was dark. The spiritual darkness, that covered the earth, was so thick that it lay like a heavy, wet, wool blanket all across the vision of the land. Hope had died.

Then - there was the resurrection vision.

Hollywood has it wrong. Most especially, the movie "The Passion of the Christ" has it wrong. Theological semetaries... ooops - seminaries have it wrong.

Three days of darkness had passed. The darkness was so fearful and oppressive that the even the day appeared to contain no light.

Then, a glimmer of light began to appear on the horizon. The sun was rising on a new day.

All the host of heaven had gathered to watch the Son of God die on the cross. Yet, the Lord would not allow them to interfere. Did you know that angels could cry?

They witnessed the death of the Savior of the world.

But God's faithful messengers would not be left in the dark. Imagine the excitement, when God said, "It is time!"

They were there. All of them. All the host of heaven gathered at the tomb. The light was so bright, no demon could come near. The moment of the worst mistake, that the devil had ever made, had arrived.

The angels rolled away the door to the tomb - and the hand of God raised its fist in triumph! The breath of God came down and entered into the life of the body that lay dead in the tomb - and transformation occurred!

He was alive! HE WAS ALIVE!

When Jesus opened his eyes - he knew - HE KNEW - that His Father had called. His Father had decreed that it was time! God's Word was Faithful. God had promised him that he would be raised from the dead, and He kept His PROMISE!

The first thing that he saw was LIGHT! Where the Angels of God are, there is Light - and such a Light as this had never been seen - ever - before!

The Light of the world was ALIVE!

He stepped out of the tomb and EVERYTHING had changed! His body was different. His life was different. He could, finally, SEE! He could SEE like he had NEVER been able to see before! Even as the Son of God, walking upon earth, he had never seen like this before!

He could - literally - see the LIFE that was all around him! With all of Heaven's Host present, there was LIGHT that shone out through the darkness.

Despair was gone. Sadness was gone. The darkness had disappeared.

Hope was - once again - ALIVE!

HE IS ALIVE!

There are some moments that live for all of eternity. Never again would darkness have the hold that it once held. The angels were there and they had HOPE restored. Hope would never - ever - die again.

All things had, literally, become NEW!

The Savior of the world is ALIVE!

God won! The VICTORY is complete!

Jesus died - and Christ arose from the grave, never to die again.

God is Life. God is Light. God will never die - and HOPE never died - because God promised that Jesus would rise from the dead.

And. He. Did!

He is alive!

Have you ever wondered why the devil is never once mentioned during the 40 days that the resurrected Jesus walked the earth?

Have you noticed that those that had conspired against Jesus - and sent him to the cross - are never mentioned before the Day of Pentecost?

Have you noticed, in the Bible, that the resurrected Jesus appeared, many times, to ordinary humans - without ANY interference - at all - FROM ANY DEMONIC OR FLESHLY BEING?

Jesus Christ was alive and He triumphed over every shadow of darkness. God said "Let there be Light!" and the darkness could NOT stop that Light of the world from shining. ANY place that Jesus Christ is, there is Light! No form of darkness can stand against that Light.

And... that Light is in us!

Light is ALIVE! Everything changed at the resurrection!

God won!

The Demonic Seduction of the BIG LIE is out to destroy you

You know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.  Acts 10:38

 Oppression of the Devil is always tied up in untruths, lies, deceit and misdirection.  It's not just ignorance, it's accepting something as true that is demonically false.  This is the shipwreck upon which ministries, marriages, lives, children and careers are lost.

It can be about sickness, it can be a mental illness.  It can be a demonic lie that demonizes people.  It can be ignorance or worse buying into a lie that puts one in chains.

This much is sure.  Jesus is the way and the Truth and that leads to LIFE.  So anything that is not true is not Jesus.  We know that the devil is the author of all falsehood.  He has no new schemes and is constantly trying to deceive people, even good people.  He deceived Adam and Eve.  He deceives Judas.  He deceived Peter.  No matter who we are in the Kingdom, we have a target on our backs.  Fiery darts of accusation and deception are headed our way.

The result is we will be much less than our destiny calls us into.  Much less.   He wants to discrete, defeat, delude, discourage, demean, destroy everything God has done in your life year to date.  Be very careful of the voices you hear. Some are satan,  like Peter.  You must understand and say, "Get thee behind me". 

The cure is to hear the voice of God.. with the Holy Spirit and With Power as you see in the Acts verse.. being like Jesus.. to free those oppressed.  And to keep yourself from lies.

Sometimes the devil will use those closest to us to lie to us.  Eve.  Sometimes he will use Friends.  Peter.  Sometimes he will use the pressure of peers.  CRUCIFY HIM on the heels of HOSANNA. 

The prophetic plumb line is your only hope.  The word of God carefully examines truth from lies.

If you found yourself deceived.. you don't have to live there, there is a cleansing. 

1 John 7but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.…

As if it never happened.. that is forgiveness and you can live clean once again.