Fear of God

September 29, 2014

While the fear of the Lord is what lays the foundation for knowing the ways of God, it is also the thread of preparedness and maturity defining a stable and purposeful walk with Him. It is the factor that enables the finish to go well. It is the glue for unity and stability. It establishes the wall of fire, the equalizer and protection for God’s people that has no parallel. It is the standard for enduring relationships, along with being the crux for God’s criterion for leadership. Even more so, the fear of the Lord is bedrock for times of crisis and the igniter for what we describe as revival. The reality of God is gaining critical mass. The world is looking for the reality of God being demonstrated — through His people. We’ve entered a time Jesus referred to in Matthew 24 as the “beginning of sorrows.” It is approaching a time noted in Luke 21 when men’s hearts will fail due to fear. The determining factor for what’s needed will not be a perfect doctrine, eloquent sermons or some super-elite band of hyper-religious. Nothing short of God’s presence and power will suffice. The fear Jesus spoke of in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 is totally different from the fear of God. It is the response of those whose hearts do not know God and those whose hearts are divided toward him. Before his ordeal, Job knew God and His ways, in his head. When he emerged, he truly knew God and his ways in his heart. The united heart changes everything.
“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” Job 42:5-6
God has called those known by His Name to be standard-bearers and agents of change. In today’s chaotic and turbulent world, this task is going to take something more. We are to actuate a new dimension, the spiritual climate that establishes God’s Kingdom rule.

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Unlocked

August 12, 2014

One of the biggest, if not the biggest gap in the Church today — is the need for something practical and engaging, to enable each believer to WALK OUT A CALL OF GOD. We’ve emerged at a change of generations with a “me-too” orientation. We’ve confused the tactical with the strategic. We’ve made models out of what may have been simply successful stepping stones for a time, stepping stones never intended as the standard or the model to be followed. Short-sighted misuse of tactical means for strategic ends can impede the unlocking and passage into new gateways. Volunteerism, for example, is not an end in itself, but rather the steps in the path toward its adherents correctly identifying and then being prepared for release to walk out their own callings. Mimicking success, instead of following the move of the Spirit, of the cloud by day and the fire by night, can be a trap. It impedes maturity within the Body needed to rightly discern and engage in God’s strategies for the times. The blind-spot at the core of such subtle snares is akin to the downfall of Shebna, of becoming in-bred and self-serving. This deception short-circuits the big-picture purposes of the Spirit. The momentum for this misaligned zeal is driven by the overuse or misapplication of early-stage successes and priorities. This in-bred myopia can breed lone-ranger congregations. Progressively misaligned priorities result in a failure to interact with, pray with and work together with other believers within the surrounding community. It waters down the important factor of how we seek the Lord together. It results in falling short in mobilizing God’s people to discern and walk out the calling of God for the day at hand. In-bred myopia masks the keys needed to unlock the strategies needed to avoid the mix between the collisions taking place due to the “me-too” and “Shebna empire,” lone-ranger, short-sighted expenditures of energy and anointing.

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Unbroken

August 2, 2014

The story of Louie Zamperini is a story of the colliding — between a life held in the bondage of masks and the superficial — and the reality that only God can provide and bring into wholeness. It is a story of facing your fears. It is a story of becoming a true God-pleaser and embracing reality. We live in a world of illusions. What we refer to as smoking mirrors is employed at the highest levels. The perception has been confused with the reality. Masks define identities. Superficialities drive priorities. Leadership is mistaken for who is in charge. Jesus came to reset the way we look at things. He came to unmask the counterfeit. He unveiled the realities, which redefine the priorities. There’s a major difference between brokenness and humility. Humility is the process of taking the steps to remove the masks and face the fears that the evil one uses in paths to brokenness. In this upside-down world, the illusions warp true reality with the distortions intent on seducing the multitudes into pathways of destruction. Yet, from the beginning, God has had a design for His people. Jesus described this design and raised the bar for what God gave to His covenant people. At its core is the purpose, which God gave to Abraham in calling him out of the world, that he might “be blessed to be a blessing.” The model of economic community with God at helm also came from the way Abraham and then Moses organized community, which in effect, is as a light shining on a hill. He provided the foundations to operate as a culture within a culture, one that makes a difference.

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Touching the Depths

July 14, 2014

For communities of believers bridging the gap with the broader community, one of the most effective strategies to maintain this balance and to release this anointing involves food. Throughout the Bible are spiritually significant instances of eating together or of the provision of being fed. The practice has involved times of settling differences, making peace and establishing agreements. Similarly, are the instances in which God’s people are the catalysts of provision when the world encounters famine and judgment (Isaac, Joseph). In the same fashion, the biblical mandates of the feast-days have their foundations in God’s people coming together and eating, as they are spiritually be refreshed and strengthened. These are God’s strategies that give opportunity for His presence. Jesus’ time with His disciples repeatedly describes significant spiritual times involving food and eating. From multiplying the loaves and fishes, to the disciples on the road to Emmaus, who after being with Him, only recognized Jesus in the breaking of bread, to Jesus feeding the disciples on the shore after His resurrection; again and again His power and presence find release through the provision of and the breaking of bread.

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The Unseen

June 8, 2014

The unseen also requires appropriate authority. By the time Joseph faced the baker and wine-taster when in prison, he possessed the know-how and authority that operated deeply in the hidden realm. Going into enemy territory, discerning and preempting the enemy’s intentions, and setting the stage for God’s counter-purposes sometimes call for obedience that only “sees” the next step. Yet, this dynamic is strategic to this hour, in preparing the way for those who follow. Prevailing in the unseen world means discerning, from God, the path to be taken from what is discerned. God always imparts strategy to those willing to pay the cost and prevail in this dimension of reality. Ps 34:7 states that: “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and delivers them.” God’s purpose is for the community of his people to be restored to operating in this dimension. This will be the result from what Jesus referred to as being a light to the world, a community set of a hill.

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The Times and Strategies

April 6, 2014

From the beginning, the age-old struggle of evil’s intent against good rears its head at unexpected and subtle junctures. The foundations shift as the times change with new generations. While God has provided the wisdom to build from one generation to another, new generations cannot simply ride the momentum. Again and again over the centuries, during times of spiritual slippage, evil has enveloped God’s people, seeking to destroy them. On the other hand, the Lord has always had His Davids, His champions, who would risk everything to stand against evil and prevail.
“I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.” (Acts 13:22)
During this last generation, there has been an incredible dismantling of the assaults of evil against God’s people; ranging from the fall of Nazism, to a standoff of the onslaughts against God’s people in Eastern Europe, Russia and Asia. Many champions have stood and resisted, some at the cost of their lives.

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The Revival Code

February 19, 2014

In defining sovereign moves of the Spirit, the question must be asked: What is it that distinguishes true revival from the contagion of a well-orchestrated program. From models of revival, what are the codes and strategies that ignite and sustain it? Likewise, is revival something that has manifested just since the Acts 2 outpouring of the Holy Spirit or is there precedent historically within the Jewish roots to the faith? One of my favorite remembrances from the early 1970s, days of vibrant revival fires, was what we referred to as body ministry. It was one of the distinguishing characteristics of those days. Praying for one another was more spontaneous. We took time to gather; to bear one another’s burdens. I recall vividly small group gatherings that nurtured short words of wisdom, exhortations, testimonies of answered prayer, simple scriptures participants may have had on their hearts; all of which came together prophetically under the Spirit’s guidance to form a theme that highlighted and encouraged those people gathering. These interactive dynamics would be followed by spontaneous prayer as members of the group revealed needs tied to the words given. Spontaneity, Word-based, Spirit led were the key factors that marked these gatherings. It was the gatherings like this that became the spark that ignited revival in a broad, cross-section of the church Similarly, Acts 2 notes that the believers in the early church met daily and broke bread together in their homes; in addition to meeting in the temple. The Amplified version notes those gatherings included the Lord’s supper and prayers (v. 42). Paul gave instruction for such gatherings (1 Cor 14:26) with the admonition that when they came together that opportunity should be given for ministering to one another; building one another up. He made it clear that this vital function should be done under the guidance of leadership, decently and in order.

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Shared Anointings

February 19, 2014

The authority of Elijah’s anointing shut up the heavens and brought judgment on a reprobate Israel. Then his daring confrontation with evil changed Israel’s spiritual climate. In so doing, God’s people began coming out of the closet. So when Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, it was no small thing. Elijah bore a disruptive anointing; an anointing that short-circuited the inroads of evil. His authority in the spirit stopped the sorcery in its tracks. It had no equal in that day. The fulfillment of Elisha’s request for a “double-portion” was evidenced not only by the startling miracles of his ministry, but by the angelic host unveiled around him in his encounter with the army of Syria (2 Kings 6:17). 2 Kings 13:21 then tells of a burial interrupted by a band of raiders. The dead man was abandoned in the tomb of Elisha and scripture indicates that when “he was let down and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.” So Elisha’s double-portion of Elijah’s anointing not only worked unusual miracles, it commanded the authority of a host of angels and carried a presence that even transcended his death.

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Spiritual Vision

January 16, 2014

The attack against the Body today targets maturity bearing on the prophetic and leadership for transformation. Again, the subtlety of the challenge facing the Body is talented people going on their own abilities with an element of the anointing spliced in. The demarcation into maturity will pivot on humility and be Spirit-driven. Spiritual maturity is not our limited perception of being right or doing right. It is when those matters, we refer to as ego, issues and self, have no root from which to manifest and true spiritual vision can manifest. It is the discernment that knows the difference in the close calls between His will and what may be blind-spots or matters kindled by the soul. Spiritual maturity on a community-level basis is when there is an alignment of the provision, power and purpose among those deemed as leaders. Spiritual maturity and spiritual vision enable God’s Light to shine and disperse the blindness and confusion. It releases the Kingdom power that paradoxically transcends the division and reverses it into opportunity. It is when there is no vestige of variation between His will and our own. Spiritual maturity with spiritual vision is a complete oneness with the Lord.

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Ministering the Fire

January 8, 2014

Strange fire results from polluting the pure. Jesus warned of strange fire through the parable of the tares. When attempting to mix the impure with the pure, it backfires. Pure fire is the most potent catalyst to the release of the blessing and power of God. It is also the most powerful response to encounters with aggressive strongholds, and actuates the release of judgment. However, strange fire results when the pure process is modified or defiled with a replacement. Strange fire and replacement of the purity of God’s process has been at the core of the enemy’s strategy from the beginning. The pure was defiled by eating the forbidden fruit in the garden. Similarly, the pure process was corrupted by the sons of Aaron, just as the profane was added by Ananias and Sapphira. The defilement of the pure was reflected by the Hellenization of the Gospel, the expungement of the Jewish roots to the faith by Constantine; and in each instance whereby the precepts of men employed the seductive use of strange fire that impeded entrance within the veil. It is within the veil that the pure fire is released. The times demand not just the pure fire, but the restoration of the holy process without the polluted add-ons. Daniel noted that in the time of the end many would be purified and refined, but that wickedness would increase and abound. The times upon us are bordering between the times of sorrow spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24 and the times of the end described by Daniel. Wickedness is on the increase and abounding.

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