Another morsel on the cloud of witnesses

First, my apologies for having added a paragraph to my observations instead of drafting a new post. It is now deleted and follows below.

Upon re-reading the last post over lunch I believe there’s more to be considered about the role of the cloud of witnesses. (I’d stress I’ve not been watching Paul Keith Davis’  videos.)

Again, here’s what the God-breathed Word states at the juncture of Hebrews chapter 11 with 12, Apostle Paul’s summation on the Hebrew fathers of faith.

39 And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,  40 God having provided something better for us, that they should not be made perfect apart from us.  Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

The key is in the closing verse of chapter 11, emboldened above. It states there’s a direct connection between our attaining perfection in faith, and pre-Christian believers in the Holy One of Israel coming into the perfection of their faith.  That is, our destinies are directly linked with those who are already in heaven!

Huh? I need to recalibrate my brain to get a grip of that.

Verse 40 means God has promised Christians a far better deal than He’s promised the fathers of the Judaic faith because of our faith in Jesus. Yet, His goal for them is the same as it is for us, as herein; ‘that they should not be made perfect apart from us’. Thus, together with them we will be receiving the same promise – not one party (Old Covenant) without the other (New Covenant)!

This notion is more obvious in the original Greek of verse 40, ‘tou theo hEmOn  ktreitton ti problepsamenou  hina  mE chOris hEmOn teleiOthOsin’, as seen in it’s word-for-word direct translation below. The present continuous tense of ‘looking’ and ‘be being’, rather than using past tense, distinctly conveys an ongoing process, one that’s in play today, viz:

of God concerning us better something of-looking-forward-to that not apart from us they-may-be-being matured (Greek Interlinear Bible)

Clearly, therefore, God’s intention has always been to bring about at the end of the Age a highly prized unity in Christ Jesus for both Jew and Christian, or as some say; the original Israel and spiritual Israel. Or perhaps, the Bride of Christ and those invited to the Wedding; Jews who’ll look on Jesus whom their forebears pierced (Zecharia 12:10).

Furthermore, with the passage of time, this cloud now includes multitudes of Christians.

As Almighty God – and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who came in the body of a Jewish man – therefore sees hardly any distinction between Jew and Christian, then how dare some church leaders denigrate, even loathe, our Jewish brethren and their national state of Israel?

With this in mind, in the knowledge that several prestigious American churches declared their stance against Israel last year (Elliot Abrams’ CFR article), I’d draw your attention to the Jerusalem Declaration by representatives of mainline Protestant churches. For an introduction to the Protestant Consultation on Israel and the Middle East click here.

Paul Keith Davis and Rick Joyner discuss ‘Times and Seasons’

If you liked Paul Keith Davis’ teaching on the 3 anointings then you will like this 83 mins chat with his friend. (It is superior value to anything on the ‘one-eyed’ blind god we call TV.)  Their closing answer to an online question made it rather personal for us last night because we’d learned of Frances Metcalf’s profound ministry in the Lord through our local church.  May you be blessed in hearing these men of God.:

 

Topics covered:

  • current events – Church in transition – 2013-14
  • full discipleship foundations – contemplative prayer
  • angelic encounter whilst writing The Final Quest
  • Jesus knocking to come into what belongs to Him
  • the Rev ‘overcomers’ are not ordinary churchgoers
  • the greatest tribulation/opportunity in global history
  • confrontation with false teaching in spirit & power of Elijah
  • ‘koinonia’ (real fellowship) essential for preparing The Bride
  • role of past overcomers/witnesses in today’s acceleration
  • different destinies within heaven
  • 1st Century Apostolic ministry required for 21st Century
  • questions from online viewers – grace – true holiness – restoration of family structure – is USA in scripture (v good point from Rev 12) – increasing evil
  • Francis Metcalf’s experiences of rapture and translation, difference between them, an understanding of the message of Enoch.

The final four minutes are highly instructive and encouraging and I pray the Lord will give you an understanding and insights into these matters. The whole ‘webinar’ is a rich banquet. Thank you gentlemen.

Paul Keith Davis: Three Anointings Coming to End-Time Believers

Further to my previous, I’m indebted to Tembisa at Church On Fire for re-posting this with the above image and providing the link, and to James Bailey for permission to re-post from his blog Z3news. Thank you for your additional notes James:

Paul Keith Davis shared the following message at a Morningstar Advanced Prophetic Conference in February, 2013. In this message, he said God showed him three anointings are coming upon a remnant of believers in these last days to enable them to usher in the return of the Lord and the millennial reign. For many believers, this message will sound like jibberish, but to those who are part of the remnant these words will stir their hearts to rise up and take possession of all God has for them.

Paul Keith Davis is a prophetic minister who speaks at churches and conferences all over the world. He is founder of White Dove Ministries, which is located in Foley, AL.

The following is the transcript of parts of the message delivered by Paul Keith Davis. Following that, I have taken the liberty to explain parts of his message in my own words and added scripture passages.

I had a vision, not a dream. In this vision I saw a hand. I only saw it from the elbow down, coming down with a Bible in his hand. I looked at the Bible and it was open to Numbers chapter 10. Then I saw a finger scroll down in the Bible and point to a certain Scripture. That scripture said, “Increase, increase, increase, increase, increase.” Five times.

Now in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony; and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. So they moved out for the first time according to the commandment of the Lord through Moses. The standard of the camp of the sons of Judah, according to their armies, set out first, with Nahshon the son of Amminadab, over its army, and Nethanel the son of Zuar, over the tribal army of the sons of Issachar; and Eliab the son of Helon over the tribal army of the sons of Zebulun. Then the tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who were carrying the tabernacle, set out. (Numbers 10:11-17)

And I knew that whatever the truth was in that scripture it was a secret. It was a trigger to launch us into ever increasing measures of increase. Once we start, it is not going to wane. It is going to increase on top of increase. So I wondered about that and the Lord said, “The cloud is moving.”

So I did a little study of this and found out exactly what I felt like it meant. Here is the essence of that. Here is the essence of Numbers chapter 10. It was the introduction of the silver trumpets where there would be a blowing of the trumpets (verses 1-10), the calling of a holy convocation. When they call the holy convocation it could be for war. It could be for packing up and moving. But in this case, it was for Israel to break camp because the cloud was moving.

The scripture that was highlighted for me said there was an order that was followed. This was the order of Israel when they were to pack up and move. First of all, the cloud would go before them. The very first thing that followed the cloud was the standard of Judah. Behind the standard was the tribe of Judah. Behind Judah was Issachar. Behind Issachar was Zebulon. Then all of the instruments in the tent and the Ark of the covenant went behind them.

The Lord told me in my vision, “I am about to visit your generation, but what is going to precede the ark of the covenant are those three anointings: Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. These are preparatory anointings that God has given us.

The Judah Anointing

Chosen by God to be positioned first tribe following the cloud is the tribe of Judah. The standard of Judah is an emblem of a lion. The lion appeared on the shields and banners of the tribe of Judah.

When Judah’s father Jacob (who was later named Israel) was old, he blessed his sons and prophesied over each of them. When he came to Judah, he said:

Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. “Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, and as a lion, who dares rouse him up? “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. “He ties his foal to the vine, and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine. He washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes. “His eyes are dull from wine, and his teeth white from milk. (Genesis 49:8-12)

The spirit of Judah is like the prevailing spirit of a young lion. Lions have no fear. They are the king of the beasts. The Judah anointing is a ruling anointing that operates in great authority. Judah’s brothers will bow down to him and praise him. The name Judah literally means “praised”.

I have heard teachings that Judah means “praise,” as in giving praise to God, but that is not what it means. Some have tried to explain that God sent the tribe of Judah first because Judah would sing praises to God, but that is not the reason given in scriptures. The Bible tells us Judah is the young lion who receives praises from his brothers. Judah was sent forth first because he is fearless, victorious, and rules with authority. Judah means “praised,” not “praise.” There is a big difference!

I believe this erroneous teaching about Judah is based on a misinterpretation of what Judah means and a misinterpretation of 2nd Chronicles 20:21-22 where King Jehoshaphat sent singers and praisers before the armies of Israel. It does not say they were from Judah, nor does it say Judah was characterized as being singers or praisers. So we need to stay with what the scriptures say and avoid following the teachings of men who sometimes twist the meaning of the words to make them say things that are not there.

What we know from the scriptures Judah was instructed by the Lord to go first, ahead of the other tribes.

Now the sons of Israel arose, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God and said, “Who shall go up first for us to battle against the sons of Benjamin?” Then the LORD said, “Judah shall go up first.” (Judges 20:18)

Like a lion, Judah always gets the best portion. So much so that his eyes are dull from wine and his teeth are white from milk. This is another insight into the character of Judah.

Paul Keith Davis explained the Judah anointing this way:

This is the essence of it. The cloud is moving. The Lord told me in my experience, “The cloud is moving and those who are provoked, those who are moved, those who are stirred, I am going to give them something they need for this season in history. I am going to give them my lion-like nature, the lion-like nature of God, to deal with the anxiety and fear among My people.”

When Judah went behind the cloud, the lion-like nature of God went behind the cloud. It is what was given to those in Hebrews Chapter 11. It is imparted by God. It is something we do not possess of ourselves.

God is sending the Judah anointing on His people to rid them of all fears, anxieties, and panic attacks. Fear opens the door for the enemy to come in. Fear can have no place with the people of God. Through this anointing, end-time believers will rise up in boldness to proclaim the good news without fear, just like the apostles in the book of Acts.

The Issachar Anointing

Behind Judah is Issachar. The name Issachar means “there is a reward, wages, a payment, compensation.” Here is how Issachar got his name:

Then Leah (his mother) said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my maid to my husband.” So she named him Issachar. (Genesis 30:18)

However, the Issachar anointing is not defined by his name, but by the word spoken over him by his father. Here is what Jacob, Issachar’s father, said when he blessed him and prophesied over him:

“Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the ash heaps. When he saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, and became a slave at forced labor.” (Genesis 49:14-15)

So we see Issachar was the observant one, always taking note of his surroundings to find a pleasant place and a good resting place. Unfortunately for Issachar, his future would involve forced labor, but the main point here is his character trait of being watchful and attentive to his surroundings. He was aware and understood the events around him. Perhaps that is why God chose him to follow Judah as the second tribe when Israel moved behind the cloud.

Paul Keith Davis explained why we need the Issachar anointing:

God wants us to be anointed with the lion-like nature of God, but he also wants us to be anointed with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to understand. He not only wants leaders to have understanding of times and seasons but he wants all of his people to have this understanding. He wants us to recognize the day in which we live.

Jesus rebuked the leaders of his day for their lack of awareness of their times. He told them they could tell the weather by the color of the sky at night to know whether it would be a good day or a bad day but they could not tell the day of their own visitation. We need the Issachar anointing to know what God is doing in the earth and how we fit into that plan. Where are we in the Scriptures? What is being fulfilled in our day? I believe the Issachar anointing is essential.

When this outpouring comes we are not going to look back, we’re going to look ahead because what we establish here will take us right into the millennium. So we need the Issachar anointing so that we understand where we are in relation to where we are going.

This remnant of end-time believers will have their eyes opened to see the bigger picture of what God is doing in the earth. They will see where their life fits into God’s plans for the great end-time harvest, which is worldwide. They will no longer rely on the secular news media to explain current events because God is going to give them insights and understanding by His spirit that the secular news media knows nothing about. This remnant will be tuned into another channel. Enabled by the Issachar anointing, they will be illuminated with understanding. When the world starts shaking with birth pangs and tribulation, these believers will be able to explain what is happening to others. In fact, they will have already seen the events before they happened.

The Zebulun Anointing

Behind Issachar is Zebulun. The name Zebulun means “exalted,” which means elevated or lifted up to a high place, glorious, and noble. This is the anointing to go into the high places to receive greater personal revelation of the Lord to be more firmly established in knowing the Lord.

Believers in these last days cannot rely on someone else’s faith or someone else’s revelation. Those who walk in the Zebulun anointing will have close personal knowledge of the Lord. They will dwell with Him. They will take the high ground and occupy it.

With this anointing, those who are hungry for more of God will be enabled to draw out hidden treasures from the word of God. God is going to impart revelation to this generation that was hidden from previous generations.

Paul Keith Davis explained why we need the Zebulun anointing:

The Zebulun anointing helps to establish the revelation of Jesus Christ in the hearts of a remnant of God’s people who will move from infancy into maturity. All of creation is waiting and groaning for the revelation of the mature sons of God (Romans 8:19). These are those who have received revelation on how to access their inheritance, which has been stored up in heaven throughout the ages but not released to the earth until now due to a lack of revelation.

By this anointing, a remnant of God’s people is going to taste the good word of God and the powers of the age to come (Hebrews 6:5). These pioneers will cross over into the age to come and bring the powers of that age back into our day. Like the Israelites who were sent to spy out the promised land, these forerunners will venture over into the land of promise and bring back a few of the grapes, the fruit of that land, and say, “Here it is! Here is what we are after. It is over there.”

They are going to contend for it. They are going to build for it. They are going to believe for it. They are going to move into that. They won’t have the fullness of it but they will have the tasting of it. Just a little taste of that realm will change a generation.

Because of the Zebulun anointing, these forerunners are going to cause eternity to overshadow our realm. They’re going to experience things that we may never have dreamed about. They’re going to taste amazing things like controlling nature and controlling the elements. The glory of this latter house will be greater than the former house. They’re going to usher in the millennium.

Also from Zebulun comes those who do warfare with the instrument of a scribe. In other words, those who write for the Lord (Judges 5:14). Personally, I like that because I do a lot of writing. Some translations interpret this verse to say “wield the staff of office,” which is ambiguous and not a very good translation of the Hebrew words.

ALL THREE ANOINTINGS COMBINED

Those who receive these anointings will not be limited to one but will have all three. They will be well equipped to carry out their end-time assignments as they operate in the boldness of Judah, the awareness of Issachar, and the revelation of Zebulun. They will therefore be well-equipped to fulfill God’s purpose for their life.

Just as the tribes of Israel worked together to do the will of God, so these three anointings will work together to enable this remnant of believers to do the will of God. In Deuteronomy 33:18-19 we see the prophetic decree that both Zebulun and Issachar will call peoples to come up to the mountain of the Lord. There they will offer righteous sacrifices. They will draw out the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand. The abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures are both spiritual and literal treasures. In fact, in nearly every nation where Paul Keith Davis has delivered this message during the past two years the Lord has confirmed it with amazing discoveries of gold, silver, and diamonds soon after he left.

ANTIDOTE FOR OVERCOMING THREE EVIL SPIRITS

The Lord said to Paul Keith Davis, “These three anointings will be the antidote for three very serious spirits that will attempt in a very pronounced way to hinder the last day church.”

There are three spirits coming against the church in the last days. These three spirits work to undermine the foundations of faith and direct God’s people away from the source of their salvation. The Lord showed Paul Keith Davis these three spirits identified in Jude 1:11.

Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.” These are grumblers, finding fault, following after their own lusts; they speak arrogantly, flattering people for the sake of gaining an advantage. (Jude 1:11-16)

Like the three men listed in Jude 1:11, each of these three spirits has a distinctly different assignment against the end-time church.

  1. Cain represents a religious spirit, which is a spirit that takes on a form of godliness but denies the power of God. This spirit does not obey the commandments of the Lord but instead seeks to make its own rules for following God. It is an attempt to put God’s name on man’s lawlessness. It refuses to come to God through the doorway of faith but seeks to come by another way. This spirit attacks those who walk by faith. It seeks to silence them and even kill them if necessary. It is jealous of them in the same way that Cain was jealous of Able. It is the same spirit that was on the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. The jealousy ultimately leads to murder.
  2. The spirit of Balaam is the spirit of error. This spirit promotes false teachings as a way of putting a stumbling block in the path of the people of God. Jesus warned the church at Pergamum to repent from this spirit (Revelation 2:14). Jude 1:11 warns us to avoid the error of Balaam. Those who follow this spirit will go astray in the same way that Balaam went astray because he loved the wages of unrighteousness. This spirit operates in churches today in those who seek to merchandise the anointing for unrighteous profit, using the holy things of God as a means to make money for themselves. The spirit of Balaam is very much a 21st-century enemy of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God is going to deal with it in his church.
  3. The spirit of Korah is rebellion against God’s appointed leadership. Just as Korah rebelled against the leadership of Moses, this spirit stirs up rebellion against God’s anointed leaders. Ultimately, it seeks to overthrow God’s leaders if possible. This spirit does not fear the Lord or respect His leaders. It foolishly speaks vile things against leaders to anyone who will listen. It operates the opposite of David when he refused to say anything against King Saul even when Saul sought to kill him.

God already has a plan in place to deal with these evil spirits. Paul Keith Davis explained it as follows:

The Lord did not tell me that one of those anointings is against the other. We’re going to have three specific spirits (Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun) to prepare us for the Lord’s visitation. Preceding the coming of the ark, the Lord is going to release the standard of Judah, the lion-like nature of God, the understanding of times and seasons (Issachar), and the blessings of understanding God’s dwelling place (Zebulun). Then will come the ark of the covenant, whatever God wants that to look like. At the same time, it is going to be the antidote to the evil spirits sent to hinder us.

MY COMMENTS

From the scriptures in Numbers 10, I believe God gave Paul Keith the key to increase for God’s end-time army. I believe God was showing Paul Keith how to tap into true increase, not just increase in one area of our lives but in every area. He was showing him how to cross into the promised land and bring back fruits to show to those who have not yet entered. He was showing him how to tap into the powers of the age to come to usher in the new age of the millennial reign.

Numbers 10 provides the keys to unlocking that increase. The following list shows four lessons that the end-time church can learn from what God did with the Israelites:

  1. Wait on the cloud to move first. Do not move ahead of the cloud and do not get left behind after the cloud has moved. When the cloud moves it is time to move.
  2. Follow every detail of God’s instructions. God gave the Israelites different instructions for different situations, which included blowing the silver trumpets in some cases and sounding alarms in other cases (Numbers 10:1-10). Likewise, we must be careful to follow every detail of His instructions, which will be different for different situations.
  3. Whenever Israel went into a battle or moved their camp, God instructed them to move in a specific order behind the cloud so that Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun always moved ahead of the tabernacle. In the same way, God is equipping the end-time church with three anointings that will precede His return to the earth. These anointings have the same character traits as the three tribes. They give us the antidote that enables us to overcome the spirits of hell that try to hinder us. By receiving these anointings and walking in them, our victory over the schemes of the enemy is assured. Then we will say as Moses said, “Rise up, O Lord! And let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before You.” (Numbers 10:35)
  4. Just as the presence of the Lord returned to the tabernacle after the Israelites moved, the end-time church will usher in the return of the Lord and the beginning of the millennial reign. As Moses said after the ark came to rest, “Return O Lord to the myriad thousands of Israel.” (Numbers 10:36)

Author: James Bailey

Continued in next post, Observations upon the 3 Anointings >

Paws-4-thought: Christian inheritance and the End-times church

DSCF5621Upon closing the ‘conversation’ on Parliament’s rebellion against God’s creation of covenantal marriage, this thought dropped into mind: I’d now  gone FULL cycle in writing about Biblical prophecy for today. That is, in 2009 I’d noted where we were heading as indicated by holy scripture. Now, worldwide changes have brought humanity to the prophesied repetition of ‘The Days of Noah’.

So let’s pause to consider where the Body of Jesus Christ, His Church, is heading. (At our school cafe assembly the elders are pondering what the End-times Church will look like. We’re far from persuaded about theories of pre-Tribulation rapture on the grounds of all the scripture.) My purpose is purely to flag this topic for thought.

A personal peek at ‘the wood and not the trees’ will suffice to recap briefly.:

> visions in 1992 and 2004 of momentous changes to the Islamic World (see All Hail The Lamb) and within the UK (see Comments Upon Collapse of Society). The latter was checked and verified by Revd Dr Stone and revealed that, although the fabric of British society is so rotten it will tear, out of that will rise the Rock upon which Christians will take a stand and repair our nation.

> an insight upon the importance of keeping our focus upon the future marriage of the Bride to the Lamb/Lion of God, Jesus Christ, as in Revelation 21-22.

> recent reminder of a quotation in book I’d read as a new believer. This had arisen out of comments from a non-believer on Godandpolitics blog, and for which confirmation was soon to come – twice! – as follows:

Lightning-1The last point arose at the start of the WordPress problems for UK bloggers, and which prevented my replying. I recalled what John Widdas and Peter Mockford wrote in 1993 about learning how to deal with demonic attacks against church congregations (see left). One of the hardest comments they heard whilst writing their book was made by,

‘…someone coming out of satanism: “The Church is powerless, because they do not live in their inheritance”! (at page 170)

Immediately I recognised its truth from decades spent in the enemy’s camp of the New Age/occult (as here).

From my experience, this situation has arisen because Christians had neglected doing what Jesus commanded; for example, to love one another as He loves them (John 13 & 15), failing to do greater works than He’d done, as stated in John 14:

 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  

No. 1 –  The next week we saw Nathan Morris preaching at the first session of Open the Heavens Conference in Mobile. He spoke about the full inheritance in Christ every believer has but doesn’t receive and keep up, or else compromises and thereby loses. In his full-throttle passion and fire Nathan staked his claim to that inheritance on four principles – he even had large T-shaped stakes painted white with signs at the top, as follows:

+ SALVATION + WORD + HOLY SPIRIT + RIGHTEOUSNESS

The next morning at the Well Church, the young worship leader opened by saying he wanted to, “Stake my claim to our inheritance”!!  Nina and I just couldn’t help but chuckle. Worship took straight off >> heaven bound. What followed was personal for practically everyone – which is as it should always be.

No. 2 – Early this week came a link to Paul Keith Davis’ teaching with revelation on Three Anointings Coming to End-time Believers

The notes which come with it by James Bailey are helpful. (He too blogs on how current events relate to scripture at Z3news (ie. ‘zee’ as Americans say, not ‘zed’ as Brits say). It would be hard for me to do justice to this profound paper.

Paul Keith DavisPaul Keith tells of having a vision about chapter 10 of the Old Testament book of Numbers and the meaning for the church of the three tribes of Israel – Judah, Issachar and Zebulun –  as it moves into the ‘new season’. That scripture, writes James, ‘shows four lessons the End-time church can learn from what God did for the ancient Israelites’.

In connection with my musings I notice this pertinent remark by Paul Keith about the anointing of Zebulun:

These are those who have received revelation on how to access their inheritance, which has been stored up in heaven throughout the ages but not released to the earth until now due to a lack of revelation.

Additionally, the Lord explained to Paul Keith those anointings will be the antidote against three very dangerous spirits (per Jude 1) that will seek to strongly hinder the last days’ church. From the descriptions given, that they are obviously at work already is yet another sign we have entered the End-times.

Their aim is to ‘undermine the foundations of faith and direct God’s people away from the source of their salvation’ > NB: Nathan’s first ‘stake’.

The whole message is an exciting and very rich treasure for those who seek to move deeper into our Lord Jesus Christ. To read it click here >

Invisible Jigsaw

INVISIBLE JIGSAW was this blog’s original title, but the present one was impressed upon me for launching by Advent 2011 – yet it’s a good fit  for why I’m writing. But both titles  work, for God is working globally to perform His will: it can be likened to His placing massive, states-wide, jigsaw-shaped pieces onto the earth and dropping them into our times – like completing an invisible jigsaw puzzle.  He and the heavenly hosts are the only ones who can see it – unless we can penetrate the veil…

The name of this invisible jigsaw puzzle is, ‘Thy Kingdom Come!’

I’d forgotten completely about all that until a new-post advice for a contributor’s blog popped into my email’s in-tray.  This was the latest of Tony Puccio’s dreams/visions: When you come Together…The Body of Christ. Therein, he writes.:

1 Corinthians 14:26 NIV ‘What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.’

The Lord showed me a vision 02/26/2013 and in this vision I saw people gathered around an oval table. The table was low to the ground so that you had to sit on the floor. The people I saw sitting there around the table each had a piece of a puzzle. As they all worked together, the image  on the puzzle began to take shape and when they were finished, the picture was of Jesus Christ. He was the center of the meeting. Each one had to do his part in finishing the puzzle and it was not left to one person to do the work of the group. This is how real relationships are built and what church done Jesus’ way should foster.

This is church.

The only reason for the gathering of believers was to re-assemble the body of Christ with each part, ie., the foot, the hand, the eye, etc. doing its part so that the church, Christ’s body on earth may be edified and that Christ may be glorified.

They did not gather because of a charismatic leader, I.e., a pastor.

They didn’t gather because of church programs.

They didn’t gather because of the worship team.

I then rebogged that post with this comment:

This….was delivered by ‘God-incidence’ just now to my email’s in-tray.  It’s so very appropriate because, after waking this morning, I was contemplating how the Lord connects and reveals things to me as a thread or ‘train’ of scripture, teaching, thoughts and insights – but the idea of their also being pieces of a jigsaw dropped (appropriately) into mind!

A couple of days later Tony was given a follow-up, which is as follows:

I had a dream 02/28/2013. In this dream I saw a huge crayon. What was unique about this crayon is that it had no wrapper on it and the crayon had a multitude of colors the first being white.  This is significant because in light, white is the presence of all colors, and, we are to walk in God’s light and in so doing, But if we live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin. (John 1:7) Even though white is the presence of all colors in light it is the absence of all colors when it comes to pigment. 

I saw this crayon color everything white, pretty boring, I know. But the only way to get to the next color in the crayon was to totally use up the white. Even though the crayon contained all these colors white was the only on visible. I then saw the colors in the crayon separate and when this occurred things began to take on a whole new look. Colors were mixed and reds and whites became pinks, other colors were paired with each other and provided contrast. While the white in the presence of light represents our fellowship with one another and the Lord; the pigment represents the physical aspects of color. In fact, in pigment, white is the absence of color. I believe that the colors in this dream are representative of people’ s personalities and characteristics all of which were apart of the crayon but until separated into their respective individual colors they remained hidden from view.

In my previous posting, I mentioned people coming together each having a puzzle piece and that the completed picture of Jesus was dependent upon the cooperation of the individuals gathered. So it is with the crayon in my dream. We must realize that none of us have the capacity to draw and color the picture by ourselves. We need the cooperation of the body….a description of this provided by Oksana who blogs under the name Talitha Kum [and may be found in commentary to Part 1 on above link].

In my humble opinion, these are exceptionally significant and related to how the Lord is building His Church in this ‘new season’, as at the close of my previous post.  There are a few issues on this, however, which I’d like to address soon – perhaps over a cuppa?

[Jigsaw image is courtesy of Thanunkorn at FreeDigitalPhotos.net]

Sit alongside prophetic teachers in conversation

Thank you to Andy for publishing this video on Decree because it reminded me to watch this fascinating discussion. We were privileged to have heard and met these two mighty men of God several times in the UK.  I unequivocally recommend readers who want to learn more about the Kingdom of God to set aside an hour to listen to these two friends.

First, however, let Andy introduce them to you…

Faith Changing Testimonies and The Great Cloud of Witnesses, and lots more – Paul Keith Davis with Bobby Conner

“I love watching this discussion and teaching time in this very special episode of the Voice of The Bride Webinar, where Paul Keith Davis sits down with dear friend Bobby Conner.

“They dive into wonderful conversation concerning these last days, commissioning of the sons of God, and the Great Cloud of Witnesses.  We also hear some incredible stories from Bobby that will challenge your faith and encourage your spirit!

PKDavis“Paul Keith and Wanda Davis founded WhiteDove Ministries after the Lord sovereignly sent a beautiful white dove to them as a prophetic sign of their calling. They now travel extensively speaking at conferences and churches, imparting the end-time mandate of preparation for the Glory and Manifest Presence of Christ.

“Paul Keith has a unique gift for imparting prophetic understanding of times and seasons with a message of preparation and expectancy for the Lord’s Empowering Presence. He spent many years in extensive study highlighting the ministry of revelation and power exemplified throughout the church ages with an emphasis on the 20th century church. His heart’s desire is to see the full restoration of Biblical Apostolic ministry manifested through the Spirit of Truth residing in God’s people, expressing salvation, healing and deliverance to the Glory of God and His Christ.

bobbyconnerBobby Conner is a ‘Gentle Giant’ uniquely anointed with refreshing humor and razor-sharp prophetic accuracy that’s been documented around the world. Bobby’s dynamic capacity to release outstanding demonstrations of the miraculous — healings, signs and wonders — reveals the very heart of the Father toward us! Surviving a dramatic abortion attempt by his mother, being rescued again by the hand of God from drug dealing and suicide, the story of Bobby Conner is a display of a man who now walks in his God-ordained destiny to set others free! Out of his deep intimacy with Jesus Christ, Bobby is super-sensitive to what the Holy Spirit is now doing throughout the world! The Father-heart of God, expressed so beautifully through Bobby and his wife, Carolyn, lastingly transforms lives in every service.

“Bobby has an extensive ministry background as a Southern Baptist pastor and he ministers in a high level, proven prophetic anointing. He believes his calling is to equip the Body of Christ to hear and discern God’s voice in these times. He is well-loved and best known the world over for his sensitivity to and leading of the Holy Spirit. Highly esteemed as an internationally acclaimed conference speaker, Bobby has ministered effectively to over 45 foreign countries as well here in the states for many years.”

So, my dear reader, be blessed with this presentation. Your comments below are most welcome…

Lion Bites on the Glory of God

Lion-Bites-logo-2012Two recent daily prophetic words from Glasgow Prophetic Centre are relevant to this blog’s predominant theme since early March of a new day or season in God for His people. The first word was published a week ago on 4th April, and the second is  today’s word – to both of which I would add graphically.:

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea. (Habbakuk 2:14 NKJV)

cruise0132

MY GLORY RISES

This is a new day; it is not like the days of old gone by. Forget the former things, forget the difficulties that have kept you barren and bound. Do not compare what you perceive to be your own inabilities against the magnitude of the mountains that you face. This is a new day and I am doing a new thing.

Look up into the heavens, look up with the eyes of your spirit and see what I am doing!

Look up and see: My Glory arises above you, it is ever so near. My Glory arises above you, so pull it down, pull it down!

Pull it down into your circumstances and the situations that you find yourself in. Pull it down into your relationships and see restoration. Pull it down and see hard hearts melting. Pull it down and see salvation. This is a new day and a new season.

Isaiah 60:1-5
Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the
LORD will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to
your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round
about and see; they all gather together, they come to you. Your sons will come
from afar, and your daughters will be carried in the arms. Then you will see and
be radiant, and your heart will thrill and rejoice; because the abundance of the
sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you.

cruise0131

THE  COMING OF MY MANIFEST GLORY

Prepare for My coming Glory. Set your face towards Me and fix your eyes on Me, for I am coming to release My Glory over all the earth. Have you heard? Have you not seen? I am shifting and shaking all that hinders the entrance of My Glory to the earth. Do you not feel it?

Align your heart with My plans and purposes for the earth and your nation, for I am coming soon and there is a short time to fine-tune your position for the coming of My manifest Glory. Be alert and be one who will not be moved from the position of receiving all I have for you. For I have much to release to you; and much for you to release to see
My Kingdom come in increasing measure. I am pouring in and I am releasing the greater measure. Stand fast. Hold your fine-tuned position. Do not be moved from
where you are, aligned with Me. For I am bringing – and I am releasing – the fullness: the full measure of My Glory for this time.

It is time for the release, so prepare now.

Haggai 2:9
“The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the Lord Almighty. “And in this place I will grant peace,” declares the Lord Almighty.

[Sunset Towards Cuba by RB, 4 March 2006 from somewhere en-route from Jamaica to the Bahamas.]

Now is Come the Time to Change Your Focus

Jesus & Holy Spirit - credit kzlam36.blogspotYet another word ‘dove-tailing’ (as one would expect) with what the Lord is revealing today. It’s like a holy weft being woven in the Bride’s wedding dress, or the veil which will cover our glorious radiance…

“A season unlike anything I’ve lived in” – Dr Sharon Stone

Arise, shine;
For your light has come!
And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
And deep darkness the people;
But the Lord will arise over you,
And His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light,
And kings to the brightness of your rising. (Isaiah 60:1-3 NKJV)

Note that verse two begins in the imperative mood, ‘Behold!’, or ‘See’ (as in the New International Version of the Holy Bible) – ie. notice and look at how dark the earth has become with a gross/thick (KJV/NIV) darkness upon everyone – rather like today, is it not?  Without itemising everything evil that’s afflicting unbelievers and secular leaders most rational folk can tell that a form of unnatural darkness is overtaking mankind.

Transformational and Increasing Glory of God

Windsor 2Now however, there is far more than hope, there’s the supra-natural light that originates in and comes from the Living God.  In last Saturday’s  mentoring day, Dr Sharon Stone developed upon the opening theme of her prophetic words for 2013. As before, she stresses that busy-ness prevents encountering the glory of God.:

“Right now”, says Sharon, “We’re in a time when we need to cultivate the glory of God in our lives and you need time to be able to do that. And to be glory carriers that attract the glory of God you need to be ‘set apart’. So if you’re so busy you don’t have that time you end up with a theology of God’s glory rather than the intimacy and the relationship, and the presence and the power that the glory of God has the ability to bring.

“I love the scripture that says we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God because…(it can also) mean we were intended to live in the glory of God. And so we have to get to a place where God is restoring that back to us. When Jesus brought us into restoration,  glory is one of the things He’s restoring us to.

“Glory can come when we spend time in the manifest presence of Jesus. But we are in a season unlike anything I’ve ever lived in before, one where His glory is more readily available to us than at any time I’ve ever seen. And we’re seeing more of His glory being poured out, we’re hearing of more encounters with the Presence of the Lord – it’s no longer being a wonderful testimony of one out of a thousand people any more, but you’re hearing 99 out of a 100 talking about encounters with the Lord…

“And here’s the reason why we’re talking more about this: we believe the prophetic consensus of the season we’re in is as in Isaiah 60 [see above and full text here].

A definition of God’s glory

“Let me give you a definition: the glory of God is the fullness of ALL that God is and ALL that He has…it is part of His provision, His miracles, His blessings upon you…there is nothing that you desire that is not in the glory of God…

Rev Dr Sharon Stone, Senior Minister Christian International Europe; courtesy CIE“In that scripture we have contradiction: great glory and great darkness upon the earth. That’s always been a contradiction, but what is different about it right now, there is an extreme in this area now…No longer is it just darkness and glory, now it is great, gross, darkness – but it is not only the glory of Jesus but now it’s also His Presence and His glory rising up on you  – and it’s going to bring an attraction of others to you…”

Sharon considers the contrasts in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and reads verses 7-9, which the NIV heads as The Greater Glory of the New Covenant. The NKJV has:

7 But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. 10 For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. 11 For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.

12 Therefore, since we have such hope, we use great boldness of speech— 13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were blinded. For until this day the same veil remains unlifted in the reading of the Old Testament, because the veil is taken away in Christ. 15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

“There have been those who have been able to put up with your words and overlook you, but they’re not going to be able to ignore the glory that God is going to put on you! (As explained in those latter verses) there is something about the glory of God that is now going to separate you out from others around about you (and those verses) mean the glory is going to be visible to one or more of the five (natural) senses…

“So that means people around you are going to be able to see something, hear some-thing, taste something, feel something or smell something. The glory that’s going to  manifest upon us in this day is going to be a mighty, a mighty, witnessing tool and I believe that once we learn to cultivate the glory of God, once we learn how to carry the glory of God, once we know how to attract the glory of God, we’re going to see that it affects relationships around about us….”

So, my reader, it was a privilege to receive such teaching of which this brings a glimpse of a tremendously blessed day.  Sharon spoke of her first encounter of the glory when a young pastor and of later learning how to endure its weightier power – verse 16 is key.

At the close, fellow prophets brought words from the Lord, one of which reminded me of what the Lord had once brought to my attention regarding the Wedding of the Bride and Lamb-Lion of God of Rev 21:9). (That insight is recounted in Revival:1 – glory stories.) But what happened in these precious moments cannot be conveyed…

I have learned to be no longer surprised by our God of Surprises because those words and ensuing worship brought time forward and took us deeply in our spirits to…

Our a copy of this prophetic painting was received on Easter Saturday, and about which I wrote in the last two posts. So it’s no wonder I was also hit hard by and had to re-blog “Come, and do not delay, for the hour is near and I would have you for my Bride”!

Of particular interest are James Nesbit’s notes about the origin and connection of this painting to its inspirational predecessor:

Arrrival - about

May these images speak to you and bring you revelation, light and prophetic insight into the eternal purposes of the King and His Kingdom.

Come, and Do Not Delay, for the Hour is Near and I Would Have You for my Bride

Courtesy of James Mark Long, www.propheticartists.comOH MY, Oh my…how well this word weighs with the closing thoughts of my previous post. I wanted to schedule this ‘re-blog’ for Saturday but that facility’s not available. Yet it just so happened on Saturday that Rev Dr Stone taught on the increasing, transformational glory of God being released. It is now more accessible than ever before and this school of prophets were highly blessed to sense the Bride meeting her Groom (as in the place of ‘Arrival’ – see previous). Words are inadequate to describe what happened but which strongly confirms this re-blogged prophetic word! Amen

Has God’s alarm clock gone off?

Three weeks ago today, 14th March, I received an ‘alarm call’ from Lyn F which fired me up to write about the choice of the new Pope. Upon first glance, her email and my response (Is Pope Francis the prophesied Petrus Romanus?) may seem unconnected but ‘over coffee’ I considered if that prophecy may be of God.

Meanwhile, Lyn has sought the Lord about distributing her brief email beyond a circle of friends and He gave her the go-ahead for me to publish. First, for those unfamiliar with the workings of the Holy Spirit, I should explain that when he communicates with our own spirit there is usually a distinct sense of inward contact. For sensitively attuned folk this can also be felt as a warmth, or surge of electricity, or sharp gasp of breath, or an inexplicable urge to double up as though someone’s hit our knee from behind…These various ways may even be combined for they’re all so individually personal.  We notice, for example, a look of surprise on Lyn’s face as she involuntarily exclaims, “HO!”.

Here’s a copy of the email, with Lyn’s blessing.:

Prophetic Stuff

After something that happened this morning I really feel I must discharge  some of the words I have witnessed to in the spirit recently (in fact since 1st March).

The HO’s! have increased in frequency and volume.  First some of the words –

  • We are nearing World War III.
  • Behold I do a new thing.
  • The world is spiralling into hell.
  • You can’t bargain with the enemy.

Then this morning as I woke up and looked at my digital radio clock. It showed 8.33. I dragged myself out of bed thinking my husband would be up and about but found he was still asleep…He has the exactly the same type of clock, it showed the time as exactly 2 hours earlier than mine!!  His clock was correct.

Very puzzled I returned to bed and listened to a podcast in the hope of returning to sleep but no, another big Ho!  

  • There isn’t much time left.
  • There is such an urgency in my spirit.

Love and blessings

Note: I replied about how and why this had struck my spirit and asked her to seek the Lord about sharing it more widely. On 21st March came her reply:

Looks fine Richard. You may wish to add the latest – 

  • There isn’t much time left. It’s later than you think.               

Oh my, no wonder there is such a sense of urgency!      

RB’s Observations:

1. The email’s content met with resonant confirmation in my own spirit (per Acts 15:28), mainly in grasping the significance of the 2 hours time difference between alarm clocks. Lyn was awakened and thought her time was correct but found it ahead of the actual time. This suggests she should be awake and alert before everyone else because they are on ‘ordinary’ time, and their ‘clock’ will wake them to what’s going to happen as they all begin a new day. In other words, God’s waking her up in advance to alert others that something significant is to happen, about which He’s already given her clues!

2. Here was a twelfth reference to God doing a ‘new thing’, but the tenor of these brief words confirmed the next post I’d started writing only the day before I got Lyn’s email. That draft is headed ‘Is God baring His arm?’   Also, I was struck that this must include the election of the new Pope – as in the proverb, ‘A new broom sweeps clean’.  Perhaps radical changes are in store for not only the Roman Catholic Church but the whole body of Christ?

3. When we first met Lyn and her husband in February 2012 she confided about three sightings of naval activity and sensing the Lord saying “War” each time. As she had no knowledge of current developments I told her about the massive build-up of American, NATO and Russian fleets in Persian Gulf, Red Sea and eastern Med that had featured in latest intelligence reports published by Debka in connection with Iran.

So, I recognise Lyn’s gifting and sensing international tensions with the Lord’s warnings of war. North Korea has threatened the USA with nuclear attack and declared a state of war against South Korea.  Its military is now authorised to use such weapons!

John McTernan’s North Korea Watch Update provides informative background links on this dangerous issue, as well as scripturally relevant events in the States. In my opinion, their stance is directly connected to Iran’s development of nuclear weapons and its ally NK’s bellicose threats are probably designed to counter western strategies for dealing with Iran; which can now respond ‘check’ to its opponents’ strategic options in this chess game.

< Update 9 April – Iranian state TV announced yesterday their president had unveiled 2 more uranium-processing facilities in central Iran…In case this show of defiance is lost on the West, Tehran is also threatening to follow its North Korean partner and withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in the wake of the failure of latest negotiations in Kazakhstan. These broke up without any date for resumption after Tehran refused outright to curb its enrichment program in exchange of the partial easing of sanctions, demanding world powers acknowledge the Islamic Republic’s right to enrich uranium under the terms of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)…Its exit would mean the nuclear watchdog would no longer have monitoring access to Iran’s known nuclear sites and, like N Korea which expelled the inspectors, could carry on enriching uranium and developing its nuclear weapons program without international oversight. Such steps plus NK’s restarting its nuclear facilities last week and missile tests further boost the nuclear collaboration between both nations – see Debka report.>

4. The above words suggest not only military battles but also battles for souls because so many deceptive doctrines are spreading through the western church – see my earlier posts on the spiritual avalanche of false teachings (eg. on grace) and the possibly dire effect upon homosexual believers.

5. In the event of either 3 and/or 4 we cannot, nor should we, compromise with the enemy!

As regards the significance of the time-lapse, this was confirmed inadvertently when our friend forwarded a link to James Nesbit’s prophetic painting – Arrival. (Click for gallery of ‘Bridal Collection’.)  It was inspired 105 weeks after its predecessor, Awaiting the King.  The astute reader will espy and understand the sequence in a theme which is directly relevant to todays’ times and troubles as we approach the Great Tribulation.

Postscript:

Lyn advises that her husband has found definitions of Ho! on the internet, viz:

This seems to fit exactly as I thought but he can’t find it now > ‘an affirmation of Jehovah (of what has been or is about to be said)’.  Albert Barnes notes on the Bible – ‘Ho! The word is designed to call attention to the subject as one of importance (the words are not of the prophet, but of the Lord)’. Mathew Henry commentary – ‘Ho, take notice of it’.  [Interesting!]

What’s God up to? Dr Sharon Stone answers my concerns.

TWO YEARS AGO this morning I did something rather rare…

DSC_0102It was unlike today when, upon opening our bedroom curtains, I was greeted by the sight of a light dusting of snow. A little later, as I brought two cuppas upstairs, the window displayed hundreds of tiny flakes zipping horizontally across the window. It was like watching a video of traffic on a city’s roads – hundreds of tiny lights heading mainly in one direction but a few dozen others taking turns, and not only going vertically one way or the other but also some would U-turn against the main flow!  It’s all caused by a very chilly easterly from north Scandinavia charging across the garden and gusting over our roof and walls.

But what happened in 2011?

Two years ago I looked through an electronic window. After getting up and heading to the kitchen I put the TV on to hear the hourly news – but got no further!  There was no newsreader. Whatever was onscreen?  It looked like treacle spreading over fields!

As part of the headlines, the BBC was showing footage from a helicopter of agricultural land and roads being swamped by black water two hours before I awoke. It was early footage of the tsunami that had been caused by Japan’s 4th most powerful earthquake . It became known as ‘tsunami soup’ in its feafully dread and vile nature.

Why should that terribly tragic event have once again been thrust into my mind, not just today but a week ago?  At the end of February I’d been ruminating over the increasingly dreadful degradation within society globally.  Many have deliberately turned against the divinely inspired injunctions for living a Godly life, refusing to acknowledge sinfulness in their lives, they intimate that God is either non-existent or else a liar.  Millions use a god as a brain-dead excuse to hate and kill anyone who believes differently.

So my thoughts had turned to consider how the Lord is taking all these developments. Isn’t it time for Him to show up or display His sovereignty and majesty? Will He?  When will He…for His Holy Name’s sake?

On Saturday morning, 2nd March, in Windsor such notions were not uppermost in my mind – especially during prolonged and elevating worship preceding a Mentoring Day. As this time came to a gently subdued close a few impressions came into mind…

Bay of Biscay

A seascape similar to this of the Bay of Biscay popped unbidden into my mind’s eye and brought a train of thoughts, which I noted as follows.:

‘As the worship quietened came an impression of a calm sea but with a slowly swelling surface on the horizon, completely left to right across the whole horizon, getting taller and darker. His (God’s) tsunami is coming!

(I recalled the video of the first signs of the Japanese tsunami where whole beaches got drained completely of water as the tide got sucked out to sea, way past low-tide mark.)

‘Just as ordinary sea withdraws from a beach and leaves a huge expanse exposed and ‘drying out’, so we will dry out nationally and wonder why things changed so radically, as is happening now.

‘BUT a massive all encompassing huge, powerful tidal wave of God is coming and will sweep every thing before it and much of what existed will get wrecked. Only that which is of the ‘wave’ survives and it reaches places the ‘water’ has never before covered!’

Whilst I quickly scribbled this the first session of the day started and I missed Sharon introducing the speaker. But in opening, Tomi took us back into worshiping God. In fact, his most excited message referred to the death of Lazarus and the details of when and how Jesus brought his dear friend back to life. My note continues.:

‘(Tobi) related it to above (notes) in Jesus’ demonstration of a ‘new opinion’ about God. He is doing a new thing, or new ways (WAVE? did he say?) that God wants to reveal.

Dr Sharon Stone – a fresh message 

Rev Dr Sharon Stone, Senior Minister Christian International Europe; courtesy CIEAfter coffee break, Sharon spoke about what the Lord had revealed within the last few days after her return to the UK.  She is struck with the great importance for ‘watchers to become ‘sentinels’ who challenge the enemy and spiritual goings on!

Upon finding the enemy is making things calamitous here, she sought the Lord on this and reported,

The Lord has allowed the enemy to rally and says, “I’m waiting to see who runs and who stands, challenges, pursues and overtakes”. 

It’s so interesting and encouraging that both speakers confirmed and reinforced what I’d written. Of course there was heaps more from dear Sharon.:

She reminded us the closing verses in chapter 2 of Ephesians describe the purpose of God’s work within each of us:

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. [Why ‘therefore? See Ephesians 2.]

Sharon went on to say,

We’re coming (as the Bride) into corporate maturity so that God’s able to release another measure of the fullness of Christ.

She then taught upon rites of passage for the Bride:

  • separation from old to new – into new intimacy with Jesus Christ
  • transition – learning, training ourselves to distinguish good from evil (Heb 5:14)
  • incorporation – admission into the new role (1Cor 13:11-12)

God wants us to be seen as mature in/by the world.

Consequently, Sharon had much to teach about our John 15:15 ‘crossing over’ into revelation:

  • Servants to Sons, where Jesus begins to share wisdom of the Father
  • Graduation into a new level of glory preserved for this time (Isa 60:2)
  • revelation of resurrections of the dead in our towns and cities
  • overcomers through our mature testimony of any ungodly agreement
  • faith preferring others, not a forced unity but a laying down one’s life
  • determination to seek the Kingdom first and being about Father’s business
  • revelation of our gain in new favour with God and man

A merging and ‘marriage’ of areas in Christianity that have been separated is thus to be expected. Love for one another brings pure, more wholesome revelation.

Acts 4 describes what happens when others will see the Bride in our new state, where we personally demonstrate Jesus so that people will notice and start responding:

13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it….18So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” 21 So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. 

Amen, let it be so Lord – and soon.

Thank you Tomi and Sharon for hearing from the Lord and answering my concerns.

On top of all that, I was blessed to received personal prophetic words from Simon, the worship leader. There was also an unusual activation exercise wherein a small group would follow one another in hearing from the Holy Spirit to bring a completely connected word for one person but from individuals.  This validated the confirmation received from  Tobie’s teaching of what I’d sensed of a particular warrior presence during worship!

The above can be but snippets from a highly inspirational day of teaching. Other than comments on this blog, any enquiries should be addressed to CIEurope.

PURSUE LIGHT!

‘God-smacked’ again!  Two friends told me about sensing light during prayer this week. To confirm and draw my attention to the importance of this, a 3rd report has now come!  The opening scripture below from Glasgow Prophetic Centre has been stressed by many prophetical voices for the past year or so. In my opinion, therefore, it would be well to contemplate and weigh these words, to which I’ve added this appropriate shot.:

aurora-uk_2192580k_Image credit Telegraph

Isaiah 60:1

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.

From a heavenly perspective I saw the nations below: within each nation were individual, bright, dazzling white lights, surging with power. These lights are individual people, glowing with hunger for God – those who are crying out for the more of His manifest presence. They burn brightly with a ‘white heat’ in the spirit realm, reflecting God’s light and life and transforming the atmosphere. And there are more than we would at first realise.

As we pour ourselves out and seek the more of God, He increases the intensity of that heat and light which radiates from us, emanating further and radiantly covering more area (in the natural realm).

I heard God say,

“I am drawn to those who are drawn to me. Just as one magnet is drawn to another, as you pursue Me with all of your heart I see you and respond to your heart cry of, ‘More Lord, increase in me’.  I will increase the brightness of your shining. I will increase the reach of where and how you illuminate everything around you. I am increasing the reach of your shining.”

The Lord asks you today to pursue Him, so that the brightness of His illumination might be reflected in you. And to ask for the increase, the intensity – the luminosity of His magnificent brilliance – to be mirrored in you.

Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day

Lion-Bites-logo-2012Footnote:  Regular readers may not have had the opportunity yet to follow-up my recommendation to visit David and Emma Stark’s website and consider receiving their team’s daily word. Should you wish to do so, here’s the link for Lion Bites.

When we come together…the Body of Christ

Courtesy of James Mark Long ; propheticartists.comAmen…A note of this post by Tony was delivered by ‘God-incidence’ just now to my in-tray.  It’s amazingly appropriate because, after waking this morning, I was contemplating how the Lord connects and reveals things to me as a thread or ‘train’ of scripture, teaching, thoughts and insights – but then the idea of them also being pieces of a jigsaw dropped (appropriately?) into mind!  So thank you Lord for this vision, and to Tony for publishing it…

Tony's avatarMy Dreams and Visions

1 Corinthians 14:26 NIV

What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be
done so that the church may be built up.

The Lord showed me a vision 02/26/2013 and in this vision I saw people gathered around an oval table. The table was low to the ground so that you had to sit on the floor. The people I saw sitting there around the table each had a piece of a puzzle. As they all worked together, the image  on the puzzle began to take shape and when they were finished, the picture was of Jesus Christ. He was the center of the meeting. Each one had to do his part in finishing the puzzle and it was not left to one person to do…

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5 reasons why Christians should not accept Jesus as their saviour

What an outrageously provocative title!

T E HannaIt’s not mine but belongs to one of your fellow readers, T.E. Hanna, a theology graduate whose blog Of Dust And Kings publishes interesting discussions about God, His Kingdom and what it means to be human.

I like the way his theology ticks.

So I’d like to introduce T.E. to you through the following ‘guest post’, which was one of the first I read. His first two points and the last one match my own perceptions 100%.:

5 Reasons Why Christians Should Not Accept Jesus As Their Saviour

Touch_Opt - Credit Espejo

In 1989, Depeche Mode released their 23rd single in the UK, a hit song that quickly climbed the charts and would eventually be covered by such notable musicians as Johnny Cash, Jerry Williams, Nina Hagen, and Marilyn Manson. The song was entitled “Personal Jesus” and the steady rhythm of the chorus drummed out the following lines:

Your own personal Jesus, Someone to hear your prayers,  Someone who cares. Your own personal Jesus,  Someone to hear your prayers, Someone who’s there …reach out and touch Faith.

While Depeche Mode used the “personal Jesus” idea as a metaphor for codependent human relationships, the concept has nevertheless permeated western Christian culture. Testimonies typically hail back to the moment when one has “finally accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and savior” and the standard evangelism question points to the same idea: “Have you accepted Jesus as your personal savior?”

Yet Scripture knows nothing of a personalized faith.

Bear with me here, and let me clarify what I am NOT saying. I am NOT saying that we should not be impacted on a personal level by the Christian faith – we absolutely should. I am NOT saying that we do not come to Christ on a personal basis – we absolutely must.

However, the idea of a personal savior has taken on a life of its own, replacing the locus of the Christian life with our personal agendas and pushing Jesus to the margins. We customize, privatize, and minimize the Christian story, relegating Jesus to little more than “someone to hear your prayers, someone who cares.” This corrodes the very heart of the Christian faith, eating away at its life transforming power, and ripping Jesus away from His divinity in order to wedge Him into an idol fashioned after a hyper-individualistic culture. This simply won’t do.

Christians need to reject the idea of the personal Jesus, and we need to do it for 5 reasons:

1. Christians Are Called To Follow, Not Accept

The central cry of Jesus was never “accept me.” In fact, it was quite the opposite. Jesus walked a path which called Him to be despised and rejected, betrayed and belittled, criticized and crucified. The call of Jesus to His disciples and to us is to follow. Following requires leaving things behind and forging forward, laying down your life that you might find it, dying to yourself that your might discover the life abundant in the purposes of God. Acceptance is passive. Following is inherently active.

2. Christians Conform To Christ, Not Christ To Christians

At the heart of spiritual formation is the move to become “Christ-like”. Often, this challenges our preconceptions and wars against our desires. Good. It is supposed to. The Jesus Way is a way of transformation, of exposing our darker side to the Light of the World that the shadows may be cast away and we may become luminaries of incandescent glory, reflecting the blinding rays of the Son. We must never customize Jesus, reducing Him to an eternal moral teacher that can give us a hand when things get rough. We must allow ourselves to be confronted by Him, restored through Him, and conformed to Him.

3. Christians Are Called To Community, Not Isolation

John Wesley once wrote that “Scripture knows nothing of solitary religion.” From Genesis to Revelation, we see the story of a God who is creating a people, not just persons. In the instances where we see individuals emphasized, they are emphasized for the purpose of the people. Abraham was called individually to carry the covenant for what would become the people of God. Moses was called individually to free the Israelite people. David was called individually to lead a nation of God’s people. The prophets were called individually to be the mouthpiece of God to His people. The disciples were called individually only to then be sent forth to gather a global people. The popular notion that Christianity is a personal affair, making the community of faith unnecessary, finds no basis in the pages of Scripture. It is only in community that we find accountability, corporate prayer, unified worship, and the edification of the saints. It is only in community that we become the Body of Christ.

4. Christians Are Called To Serve, Not Be Served

So much of Christian rhetoric emphasizes the blessing of God and de-emphasizes the way of the cross. Much of popular Christianity is about seeking these blessings, about conforming God to our will, about how God somehow is charged with serving us. I am not diminishing the reality of the blessedness of God, but blessing is hardly the entire picture. Jesus completely inverts the concept of privilege, calling His followers away from notions of entitlement and into a life of servanthood. The reality of this is that, as we serve one another, we will be served in the process; but the notion that service is somehow owed to us is completely overturned. We, who claim ourselves as children of the greatest King who ever existed, express this most dutifully as servants.

5. Christians Are Saved For More Than Just Themselves

The Christian concept of salvation does more than just look over its shoulder at a sinful past now washed clean. It does more than look at the present as we are engaged in a process of spiritual renewal. It looks to the future, at the outworking of our salvation expressed as a transformed people transforming the world. In other words, Christians are not just saved from sin, they are saved to God. We become active participants in the breaking forth of God’s Kingdom as the redemptive order confronts and exposes the manifestation of sin in society. To limit the concept of salvation to a personal experience (or worse, a personal event) truncates the fullness of what it means to be Christian. We are not just saved from a life of sin; we are saved for a world where sin still manifests.

The popular evangelistic rhetoric calling for people to “accept Jesus as your personal savior” needs to be overturned. It is only in the call to “come and follow” and to “take up your cross” that we begin to regain the deeper things which have historically defined God’s people. It is here, in the deep water, where Christianity comes alive.

So… reach out and touch faith.

What do you think?

How does the personalization of Jesus impact the Christian faith?

Read, and contribute to, several commendable comments from readers and T.E. by scrolling to the foot of this link to ‘Personal Jesus’. I trust you’ll be as blessed as me.

I read it after attending our church home group where we’d worked through Romans 6 in some depth. Thank you T.E for your five points which, together with that scripture, confirmed my objections posted in a discussion elsewhere, as mentioned in my post  covering Steve Chalke’s apostasy (here).

In case anyone’s puzzled or got questions…

Readers and visitors to this blog who aren’t Christians probably have questions about the previous post’s references to a spiritual enemy. Some explanation, therefore, would be helpful for those unfamiliar with the Holy Bible, or Christian doctrine. And, in fact, the good Lord already had that in hand for you!  Some timely basic doctrine behind the last post has ‘co-incidentally’ turned up.

So without further delay, I repost an email received today – Part 6 of Rick Joyner’s series on The Great Commission (Jesus’ parting instruction to His disciples, Matt 28).:

RJoyners WftW_eNL_T_1

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

As we have been covering, “all authority in heaven and earth” has been given to Jesus, but He has not taken that authority over the earth yet. His kingdom is going to come, and His will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven. All of heaven lives under the domain of the King. Only Satan and the angels who followed him have rebelled from the heavenly realm and were cast down to the earth when mankind rebelled against God. Now the only rebellion against God in all of creation, the physical or spiritual realms, is found on planet earth.

John wrote that the whole earth lies in the power of the evil one. It does presently lie in his power, but as we are told in Psalms, the earth and all it contains belongs to the Lord. The authority over everything in heaven and earth is under the Lord’s domain, but He has not yet taken His authority over the earth. He could have taken dominion over the earth immediately after His resurrection, but He did not for our sakes. He left it under the domain of evil for a time for one reason—to find those who loved Him and His truth even more than they loved their own lives. They will prove this by living for Him and obeying Him against the opposition of virtually all who are on the earth and hell’s minions as well.

The Lord is all-powerful. He could dispatch of the devil and all of his demonic hordes with the flick of His finger. The Lord could have cast Satan and his hosts into the lake of fire immediately after His resurrection. He had redeemed mankind, and the earth, and it was His to take. He left it as it was for another purpose—He is seeking a bride to rule and reign with Him.

Jesus is called “the last Adam” in I Corinthians 15:45. There was a legal reason for this. The first Adam had been given dominion over the earth. When Adam succumbed to the temptation and chose to obey the evil one instead of God, Satan was able to exert his power over the earth, and we become the slaves of the one we obey. We are told in Romans 6:16:

Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

When man fell, all that was under his dominion fell with him, and the earth became the domain of the devil. It was a usurped domain, but this gave the evil one power over the whole earth. The reason why Jesus had to come as a man to redeem the earth was because authority over the earth was given to mankind. This is why Jesus always referred to Himself as “the Son of Man.” Only a man who walked in perfect obedience to the Lord could redeem the earth from the consequences of man’s disobedience. Jesus perfectly fulfilled this and took back the authority over the earth that had been lost by the first Adam.

We can have authority over something and not possess it yet. We could be given a car, the title could be put in our name, and it is at the dealer waiting for us to pick it up. However, until we pick it up, it is not in our possession even though it belongs to us. The title to the earth was put in Jesus’ name immediately after the cross. He just has not come to claim His possession yet in order to allow the conditions on the earth to help prepare His bride, the church, to rule with Him.

The bride of the first Adam lived in the most perfect conditions yet chose to disobey. The bride of the last Adam, Christ, will have lived in the most difficult conditions, and against the onslaught of all the powers of darkness, she will chose to obey. No other creation of God will have endured what she will have endured, and yet she will be faithful. This will be a witness to even the principalities and powers that their time is up over the earth. Even the angels will marvel at her and consider her worthy to be their judges. She will be a worthy bride and joint heir for the Son of God.

God does not tempt us with evil, but as stated in Jeremiah 20:12 and other places, He does allow us to be tested. A test is different from a temptation, though a temptation can be a test just as it was for Adam and Eve. We are tested by the Lord to help us grow and to qualify us for advancement, just as we took tests in school to see if we could be promoted to the next grade. Advancement in the Lord includes more authority. (RB’s emphasis)

As Francis Frangipane likes to say, “You never fail one of God’s tests; you just keep taking them until you pass.” That is basically true. Israel kept going in circles for forty years in the wilderness because they could not pass certain tests that were required before they could enter their Promised Land. Many Christians do the same thing and keep going in circles in their spiritual life because they keep failing the same tests. It is now time to pass the tests and go on to possess our Promised Land.

Links:

“Having an enemy is a fundamental requirement” – Dr Sharon Stone

Lionheart – Richard Coeur de Lion!  The above image spoke about my boyhood hero as soon as I espied it.  Alone, it lay amidst paintings by James Nesbit at Dr Sharon Stone’s Mentoring Day last weekend.  Whilst sipping a quick coffee after arrival, I saw the vendor getting her goods ready. “It’s mine!” I exclaimed and explained why.  The meeting was just about to start and so the lady kindly put it aside for me.

This painting complemented several personal impressions and words over the last few years, as well as more recent words brought by prophetical folk (eg. my remarks about HMS Warrior here). But little did I know how it would plug straight into what Sharon was going to say, and into a few things recently happening as well as some destined for the following week!  (See previous two postings and comments.)

Below are my notes, hastily scribbled in keeping up with Sharon as she delivered her message entitled.:

Having an enemy is a fundamental requirement!

Rev Dr Sharon Stone, Senior Minister Christian International Europe; courtesy CIEThis season suits God’s prophetic people better than any I’ve known, because we were made for seasons of conflict when people need to hear us and what God is saying. That is, it’s not so much a time for the ministries of apostle, pastor, teacher, evangelist as it is for the prophet.

More than at any other period, we now need to be on time with prophetic words.

Critics say spiritual warfare is no longer required as we can function from a position of  ‘rest’.  That’s deceptive because our use of weapons needs to be updated from ‘hand-to-hand’ to our enforcing Jesus’ victory by means of decrees from the ‘heavenly courts’. Our enemy – ‘that worm’ – is to be kept underfoot!

We’re at a new level of time. One where we become warriors and overcomers.  So having an enemy is a fundamental requirement to achieving that goal !!

  • We can’t find and move into our destiny without having and overcoming an enemy. King David’s enemy Goliath defined him.
  • God changed his life as a result of killing that giant. Shepherd boy David moved from obscurity into notoriety as a national hero.
  • God’s ‘suddenlies’ do occur but we need to deal with our personal giant and not live under its shadow.
  • God promotes us when we deal with giants.
  • We never go back to the same defeated giant!

The spiritual enemy signals the part of our life (eg family/generational issues) in which he’s afraid of us because, were we single-minded in it, he would be overcome. That is,  issues are not our weakness but our unrecognised strength we just need to keep up  the  m o m e n t u m!

The present season is going to show who are heroes and who are cowards!

THIS SEASON IS WHEN THE WORLD AND CHURCH WILL SEE WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A CHRISTIAN AS OUR FAITH GOES ON TRIAL – AND GOD IS WATCHING HOW WE RESPOND AND STAND.

  • He wants us to be vulnerable to Him and to being inspected by Him.
  • It’s our faith that refines us by fire and aligns us to our destiny.
  • All we have to do in this season is to be strong and courageous and to learn as we progress –

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” [Josh 1:9]

[I’d already referred to the early verses in Joshua, which are highlighted in my Bible because they led into the personal prophetic words received in 1996 – as here]

THIS IS THE SEASON FOR THE CHURCH TO BE DEMONSTRATED IN THE WORLD LIKE IT’S NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE!

In what we’re not, in all aspects of being a warrior, then we are to be fearless because Jesus Christ is in us and fulfills all that we need; as in 1John 4:4

You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.  5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Also, ‘for a great effective door has been opened but there are many adversaries’ (1Cor 16:9).

Whenever an enemy pops up this signals that we’re moving from one season to another through a ‘new door’.  [Note: the ‘open door’ again!]

Footnotes:

Waiting upon the Lord a few weeks ago I had a vision of the huge dark green side of a mountain bursting up through the ground in front of me and close to my feet. I believe this may indicate the time has arrived for the manifestation of an open vision I had for the UK.  That first vision meant that, as society fell apart, the solid rock that is Jesus Christ would appear (see Comments upon collapse of society). Hence, the imperative need for believers to take a stand upon The Rock.

Readers may wish to read > In case anyone’s puzzled or got questions…

Detail from Eagle-eyed, John Mark Long: propheticartists.comAndy, I’m absolutely stunned by your including this particular illustration of armour with the word from Bobby. I printed a copy from Bobby’s site last week but several events prevented my reblogging it. BUT at the start of the weekend I bought the only copy of this picture at a meeting! After that I heard Dr Sharon Stone deliver a message on dealing with our enemy!  My wife has now come into the room and her jaw dropped in amazement!  Clearly, the LORD has a most important encouragement and instruction for 2013 – and there’s this inspirational video!!

A visionary word for 2013: “I am tempering you…”

Credit_ JesusIsComing_th-1Thank you to Tembisa at Jesus is Coming for this vision received by Susan O’Marra, and for this graphic. Swords and associated imagery of our Ephesians 6 armour (see below) have been coming to my attention of late. This account therefore gels with my spirit, so thank you Susan. Thus, I submit her ‘vision 1’ and the Lord’s word for careful weighing by fellow believers, and for waiting upon Him.:

On 01-01-2013, I awoke to a vision of a sword hovering in the air. It was being dipped into different things. The first thing it was dipped into was a vat of sand. The next was a container of wool. The third was a vessel of a silvery liquid. Over and over, the sword was dipped into each thing, one at a time, and repeated many times in it’s circuit of sand, wool, and oil. Then the final thing was the sword was then placed within the folds of a beautiful garment that hung in the air nearby.

Then, the Lord spoke:

“I am tempering you.

“I am rendering you impervious to cracks, to fractures, to schisms, and to divisions.

“I am hardening you to temptations and to demonic assaults.

“I am making you inflexible to compromise and to mixture of any kind.

“I am making you rigidly righteous, and strong in your faith in Me, so that I can wield you fully.

“I am polishing the last of the smudges in your personality that mar My image from being fully seen.

“I want you to gleam with Me in a new sensitivity and reveal a brighter countenance of Me.

“I am enfolding you into each other, My Robe, My Church, and I am adding into your layers a new corporate strength.

“I have tempered you each individually, now I will form you corporately into a formidable weapon for Me.

“This is the Year 2013, when I will form, I will assemble anew, and bring My End Time Army into full battle view.”

Scriptures:

Exodus 30:34 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: 35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy: 36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.

1 Corinthians 9:25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.

1 Corinthians 12:23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. 24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. 25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

2 Peter 1:5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

1 Peter 5:8 Be well balanced (temperate, sober of mind), be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. 9 Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset–rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined], knowing that the same (identical) sufferings are appointed to your brotherhood (the whole body of Christians) throughout the world.

Ephesians 6:16 Lift up over all the [covering] shield of saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one]. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit wields, which is the Word of God. 18 Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).

Susan O’Marra 01-01-2013

http://www.intheimageofhisglory.com/

Divine climate change

Thank you Jarrod for such a superb reminder.

Jarrod Cooper's avatarTRIBE

 

let-us-perceive-the-lord-let-us-press-on-to-experience-him-as-surely-as-the-sun-rises-he-will-appear-he-will-come-to-us-like-the-winter-rain-hosea-6-3“Let us perceive The Lord. Let us press on to experience him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rain” Hosea 6:3

Hosea 6:3 teaches us how to change the climate in our lives. Here’s how to cause it to rain heaven:

Firstly, perceive the Lord. Take a moment to think about the fact that He is right by you, right now. His presence, His wisdom, His power is in the room where you are. His angels are around you. His help is at hand. He is closer to you than your skin!

Secondly, in the words of Hosea 6:3, “press in to experience Him”. Worship Him a little, make some requests, read and think about a few scriptures. Cast all your cares on Him and pause a few moments to listen for Him. Invite the “King of Glory…

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