Understanding the Times

Bitter Root Alliances

December 12, 2012

The root of bitterness pivots on the antithesis of a truth from Proverbs 16, where it says that “he who rules his own spirit is mightier than he who takes a city.” Far too many are candidates in this seductive spiritual struggle between soul and spirit. They either don’t know the Scriptures, they choose to ignore them, or they override them with their self-justified fleshly passions. In a word, their feelings and passions are allowed to dominate and become obsessions. Judas used his position with Jesus for his personal agendas without ever really having a grasp for what the Lord was doing. It emphasizes the importance of why so many of today’s modern-day Josephs have been through such a long, excruciating preparation period. There’s a cost for those called to be entrusted with Kingdom roles within seats of power. The influence of the bitter root is no small matter. For some, the choice of bitterness sadly creates distorted views of reality that simply begets more bitterness, pain and destruction, as it defiles many. A bitter root does not trust. Its tendency is in finding fault and pointing the finger. It operates self-protectively and surreptitiously. It is at odds with those not sharing the bitterness, with its ultimate fruit self-defeating.

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Division Strongholds

November 30, 2012

The corollary of the fallout of willful immaturity is readily evident within the power structures of the world’s system. Without God, leadership hopelessly digresses into what scripture refers to as the bondage of corruption. The “blessings” come when the obstacles of division become irrelevant and people enter into the God-centered community dynamic intended by God: the enabling others. Just as there are levels to the sowing of division, so there are levels to responding to it. It begins with Paul’s instructions to the Romans, to being wary and avoiding the perpetrators who undermine and create discord and confusion; to the example of Paul confronting and cursing Elymas the sorcerer in Acts 13; to the highest level, in which Jesus yielded himself to his betrayers after Gethsemane. As the community dynamic takes root, willful immaturity will be transformed, as the poor in spirit will no longer be subject to soulish delusions; those who mourn will be healed of their woundedness; the meek will have no need to force issues; those who hunger and thirst after righteousness will not be subject to over-spiritualizing; the merciful will release their pent-up anger and become genuine in their gift; the pure in heart will no longer be impulsive; the peacemakers will have no need to manipulate; and the persecuted will rejoice as their frustrated priorities no longer are tied to the world’s system.

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Opportunity in Turbulent Times

July 9, 2012

Joseph the Patriarch operated uniquely from within the world’s system. His stewardship and prophetic gift made room for him. Yet, despite adversity arrayed against him, he also demonstrated the reality of God. He stewarded opportunity as a most unlikely candidate, without position, from the bottom-up; to a point to when God intervened and he became a prototype of establishing God’s authority and rule from the top-down. Joseph became a model of harnessing opportunity in turbulent times for God’s purposes, while providing a safe haven for both his benefactors and God’s people in the process. The dynamic of overriding the spiritual storm approaching the world at that time carries a parallel to the times before us and the approach needed in the face of adversity.

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Spiritual Oases

June 4, 2012

My unique spiritual oasis experience brought a refreshing from the Lord as I recovered from the role I had served in planting oases in tough spiritual environments. With this concept of an oasis in mind, I soon afterward had a most unusual contrasting observation made to me. In a land known for its lawlessness, corruption and poverty, a genuinely-called modern-day Joseph explained to me the fervency of the brethren of his nation to find transformation opportunity for the Kingdom. With tears in his eyes, this brother noted that more often than not, the ones finding opportunity in the world’s system, rather than becoming oases of influence, are soon exhibiting the subtleties of corruption, with the caveat that you’ll see them in church the next week mouthing what now have become empty words. The issue is not so much in the spiritual barrenness, which indeed is very real, but rather in the places that should be spiritual oases, but are not. Those exhibiting the mantle of ones anointed to create the oases, instead become just like the world around them. In short, the path into the release of spiritual oases in seats of power is laden with snares and entanglements that seduce the very elect.

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Misguided Tongues

May 27, 2012

October 24, 1996 is a date our family will never forget. It is the day our 30 year old daughter Trisha Stemple was brutally murdered. Trish, a beautiful young mother of two, was the administrator for an overseas disaster response ministry. She loved the Lord with all her heart. Aa a prophetic intercessor, the morning before Trish’s funeral I asked the Lord for the context of what had been taking place in the spiritual realm. The answers I received have become even more applicable today than at the time we originally faced this tragedy. They reflect a truth foundational not only for those called as intercessors, but for those called to pave new ground for the Kingdom. As I prayed, I began understanding how loose tongues from among those anointed for service create open doors of vulnerability within the Body to attacks from the enemy; attacks enabling him to harness the anointing for his evil purposes. Indeed, they create a catalyst that sets in motion what can become raging firestorms.

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Spiritual Entanglements

May 6, 2012

One of the enemy’s most crafty and deadly strategies is that of entanglements. Entanglements are subtle, deceptive; swift in their efforts to infiltrate and calculated to release destruction. Entanglements are designed to confuse, distract and divert the Body. They keep the Body spinning its wheels on minor issues; diverted from the strategic and the essentials; and preoccupied with crises programmed in the pit of hell. Entanglements are part of the enemy’s game plan to keep the Body on the defensive, while progressively probing and penetrating vulnerabilities to undermine the work of the Kingdom. In his quest for power, the enemy gives focus to embedding his minions in seats of power in government, business and religious institutions. Yet, hell recoils when Spirit-led believers who operate in God’s authority penetrate “seats of power.”

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Strategy of Alliances

May 5, 2012

The extent that idolatry and sorcery have permeated the seats of power of the infrastructures encasing life as we know it today is a reality. Modern-day Ahabs and Jezebels operate deep in the heart of not only our political and business systems, but our religious institutions, as well. What needs to be brought into focus is the role of today’s Kingdom business-community leaders in reclaiming what the enemy has undermined and stolen. The Acts 7 Stephen spoke of the envy the brothers of Joseph had for him. The envy operating among Joseph’s brothers and the dishonor they sowed within the land of Promise were undermining the purposes God promised to their forefather Abraham. Something had to change. In addressing the realities of that change, God had a crucible designed to prepare Joseph for the authority required for him to effectively overcome the Jezebels of Egypt and the power associated with the envy of his brothers. So it is today, that God has those He has prepared and a strategy to redeem His purposes for those known by His Name.

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Prepared to Prepare

May 5, 2012

The Kingdom view of success is very different from the way the world ranks success. The West is enticed by the illusions and vicarious followers of superheroes and the glitter of the limelight. However, genuine success is judged by a radically different standard, as the majority of the world faces realities that are the fruit of the bondage of corruption. All this has led to the need for greater clarity for what lies ahead. The spiritual tension underway in the world today has us poised before a time paralleling when Pharaoh recognized Joseph’s prophetic wisdom: a time of preparation preceding judgment. Recent spiritual shifts unveil the reemergence of a creeping evil that bears on the necessity to more strategically understand the times and to begin preparing: preparing not just spiritually, but in the natural. The response pivots on the Kingdom and the spiritual realities that bear on our priorities and view of success.

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Prepared to Prepare (Part 2)

May 5, 2012

Religious freedoms that have been taken for granted since the fall of the Iron and Bamboo Curtains are being challenged. There likewise is a struggle underway for the soul of Africa, where on one continent are found the resources sought by the rest of the world. The spiritual realities taking place in the world today; the creeping, reemerging evil ultimately will affect the entire Body and should be providing a sobering perspective that tempers our priorities. The times have experienced a shift and it is time to prepare. The story of Job’s path through the fire unveils truths pertinent to the righteous being prepared. Job was a righteous man in the sight of God. He was a spiritual forerunner and business leader of his day. As in the case with Job, the evil one’s encounters with today’s righteous face a barrier of protection represented by the anointing of God’s presence. Not surprisingly, Satan found access to counter this divine protection. It was through the blindness of ones Job regarded as friends. Contemporaneously, the evil one has employed gateways through the soulish nature of those closest to those being prepared to prepare. These are inside affiliations the devil can easily provoke with his undermining objectives. These are relationships reflecting a spiritual blindness marked by limited or misguided priorities and perspectives that the enemy can harness to serve his diversionary and destructive tactics.

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