The Removal of Infirmity

Over the last few months, the Holy Spirit has been teaching me concerning infirmity, the root of infirmity, and healing. I would define infirmity as any sickness, defect, or injury in our bodies.

To be healed by God, we must believe that he wants to heal us and that he hates and even fights against infirmity. To receive anything from God, we must have a confident expectation that what we ask of him is his will and that he is able to fulfill our request. Therefore, it is foundational that we know God's heart for healing. It is painful to think of how much bad teaching has encouraged Christians to believe that God wants them to stay broken. Andrew Wommack has a free set of teachings named, "God Wants You Well". If you are not sure of God's heart in this area, these free messages are a useful resource.

I have been agreeing with God concerning healing for me and my wife from a set of lifelong infirmities. As I have continually sought after God for healing, he has given my wife and me both dreams and inner visions that show us as being healed. The Holy Spirit has revealed to me that we are already healed even though we are waiting for the visible signs of wholeness. This is true for a couple of different reasons that I am going to share.

The first is that time is an illusion! It constrains us, but God lives outside of this phenomena. When we ask God for something that we know to be within his will and believe confidently that we will receive it, we can know that God has already accomplished it for us within our future. Faith is not believing that God will do something for us. It is believing that God already has done it for us and then coming into a steady agreement with this truth. As we believe in our heart and speak with our mouth what God has said to be true, what is already completed in heavenly realms manifests here on Earth. It is the kingly practice of declaring the will of God and commanding the things of Earth to come into submission to that will.

The second reason is that healing and infirmity can exist within the body at the same time. Recently, God showed me that God can transmit healing into a person’s body, but that the enemy often attempts to mask the reality of having been healed. In my case, I am walking around with a totally healed body, but infirmity creates the illusion that I have not been healed. It becomes a matter of whether I will live out of my intellect or my spirit. Daily, I choose to believe God and to confess the truth of what he has already finished. I have seen in the spirit that when infirmity drops off of me, it will be obvious that I had been healed prior to that point.

One morning, I woke up with a song rising out of my spirit. The “Horse and Rider Thrown into the Sea” is based on Exodus 15 when God drowned the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. The Holy Spirit showed me that there are two enemies to be defeated for healing to be seen: There is the infirmity, and the root of infirmity. The root of infirmity is the spirit of infirmity. It is a demon that promotes sickness. In my family’s case, this spirit has kept us from being made well and held us back in our God-given life purposes. The spirit of infirmity furthers sickness in two ways. It reinforces an existing sickness or injury. It may lie to us that God gives sickness as a form of his kindness. It also seeks to bring about new sickness. It searches our DNA to find genetic dispositions that it can use to trigger illness.

What is the solution? In my case, God showed me that he already defeated the infirmity and that he crushed, burned, and incinerated the root of infirmity. This has been already been done within my future. God has prepared this, planned out every detail...and it has already happened. I am living in the unfolding on what God has finished.  Additionally, the Holy Spirit has touched our DNA in an upcoming move of God so that the spirit of infirmity has nothing to attach itself to. My family has been completely delivered from infirmity from a point in our near-present and into the ongoing future become of what God has accomplished.

I have learned something about how to receive healing. God has gradually shifted my faith from believing that I have enough faith and determination to receive the visible signs of my healing to knowing that God will cause it to manifest at the correct time. God is both willing and able to keep his promises no matter how steady my heart feels or how much sleep I got the night before. He spoke to me during the night once that I do not need to have someone else go to him to get healing for me. He is pursuing me himself to deliver the healing!

There can be a delay to receiving healing because God wants it to be the greatest possible blessing to us. He can sustain us, but he would rather bless our socks off. If you are waiting on God, do not grow discouraged. He is not just merciful. He is more good and more kind that any of us could possibly imagine. He is a God who knows what it is to carry our sickness and to suffer in our place. He has never, ever turned on his back on us. 

As we stand before God claiming the fulfillment of his Word to us, know this: It is impossible for him to forget us! This covenant that we are included in is between God and his precious Son. In the same way that the rainbow was a sign of God’s promise to Noah, Jesus is the rainbow of the New Covenant promises. Every time God looks at Jesus, he is reminded of his promises. Jesus is our reassurance that God will express his goodness to us and keep every promise that we will trust him for. If we will only believe God and keep believing him, we will receive the full measure of what he has prepared for us.

Stirring up Trouble

I have some continued thoughts on what I posted in Maturity Leading to Corporate Unity. When God delivers us out of bondage to the enemy, whether it be the initial salvation experience or through an area of ongoing, personal growth, we rejoice: God has removed us from our troubles and taken out of the situation that caused us distress. God has a bigger plan though that neither our spiritual enemy nor the natural mind of man anticipates.

In Judges 14, God began to move in the background of Samson’s life. His actions did not make sense to his parents, and the Bible says, “But his father and mother did not know that it was of the Lord—that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel”. Different translations replace “to move” with “to confront” or “for assailing” the enemy. God is still looking for an occasion to attack the enemy.

God delivers us from trouble, but he is at work in us and through us to stir up trouble. He desires to raise up a people who will assail the enemy. It is my prayer that God will use his people to give our spiritual enemy an enema. God will cause the enemy to poop his pants when he sees us coming. The enemy has the capacity to create misery through his dominion over the people of God, therefore, God is continually seeking an occasion to confront the enemy.

Get ready for battle against an enemy that cannot be seen with your natural eyes and who hides behind naïve people who do not understand that they are being manipulated! The Bible says that the whole world lies under the power of the wicked one. It also says that he who is in us, we who are in Christ, is greater than he who is in the world. Jesus is our refuge, and he is also the head of Heaven’s armies. We have the supply line of Heaven’s resources, the reinforcements of the angelic, the supernatural gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit, and love of the Father to steady us.

Your spiritual enemy hates you and seeks to maintain his rule over the people of God. God wants to lead you into trouble, but this time, he desires to terrify the enemy through your life. Are you ready and willing for God to use you to stir up trouble?

Maturity Leading to Corporate Unity

This week, I have been considering two amazing crossing that the no-longer-enslaved nation of Israel made so long ago. They stood before the depths of the Red Sea with an enemy pursing them. They had no great faith of their own, so it was Moses that God used to divide the sea. When that process was complete, they walked across on dry ground. Their enemy was caught in the released waves and was no longer a threat to them.

As they progressed in their journey, God revealed his heart that they would all be priests to serve him in his presence. Sadly, they did not come into agreement with the very heart of God. Then when the time came to occupy their new land which had been prepared by God, they did not have his mind. Their hearts melted in fear and most of them died in that barren land.

When a new generation came of age, they followed Joshua’s leadership into the place that God had planned for their parents to have. This time, there was a difference. The priests walked together and carried the manifest presence of God. As their feet stepped into the Jordan River, God caused the river to stop flowing. The priests stood their ground on that dry ground until all the people had crossed.

There is a maturity that is not God’s best if it does not develop further. It is the maturity of the gifted leader that who represents an intermediate to God and who enters into the presence of God on behalf of other believers who look up to him or her. There is a greater maturity that this that is meant to develop. This type of maturity is described in Ephesians 4. Those called to the fivefold ministry are to work with Heaven’s empowerment to bring us into unity and into a maturity that is marked by an all-encompassing love.

To say that we come into corporate agreement with the manifest presence of God, we are touching on something more powerful than simply having our needs meet or of having a precious encounter with God. We are doing what Israel did when they crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan. They were declaring that they would occupy the place in life that God prepared ahead of time for them to possess!

Paul put forth in the Book of Ephesians that we were created in Christ Jesus for good works which prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. The Book of Revelation tells us that we are kings and priests in the service of Jesus Christ and of God the Father.

Rise up, Church of God! Come forth people of God! You are intended to come into a maturity that leads to corporate unity and Kingdom occupation. Shake off the lies that the world and even the religious system told you about your identity. Enter into the presence of God by the Blood of Jesus. Let God ruin you for this world’s system. Let him declare to you who you are in the same way that God notified Gideon of who he was. It is your destiny as the Bride of Jesus Christ to occupy your place in the spirit realm and to bring Heaven to Earth.

Epic Lives

Some of the classic movies are epic films. When I search online for a definition for “epic film”, I find a range of possible meanings, but it can carry the concept of “journeys of heroes upon which the fate of a large number of people depend”. When I think of epic films, movies that come to mind are Gone with the Wind, Titanic, and Stranger than Fiction. In the case of some characters, the fate of only one person hinged on the hero’s or heroine’s life, and yet, this reflected even greater worth on the life being enriched.

If we were to see the sequence of our days from God’s eyes, it would appear much differently than how it looks in the morning mirror or in the eyes of those we rub shoulders with. We are each actors in a grand production. It is both scripted and ad hoc in its development. We are not victims, but we are all potential heroes. I once saw a prophetic picture of someone’s life. She walked across a piano. Each footstep pressed a set of keys. Taken by themselves, some of sounds produced were really dismal. From God’s perceptive though, the end result will be an amazing song when played from start to finish.

Your life is amazing. It might not seem that way to you though. In fact, it probably has regrets, pain, boredom, and even some anxiety of about lies ahead of you. Ask God to show you the events of your life through his eyes. He deeply loves you. He has felt every cringe of pain and every thrill of joy that you have ever experienced. He treasures you. He can take what seems like a sad, meaningless life and turn it into an epic story. Trust in him to. Expect him to. Let him…

Kingdom Stewardship

Last year, we purchased a used minivan. We paid for it in full using cash. We possessed the keys but not the title. After waiting the appropriate amount of time, we still had not received the title. It turns out that there was a mix up between the dealer and its parent company. They never did figure it out, and we were without a title for months.

My wife did some research and found that we could pay a small fee to get a “lost title” replacement. A short trip into town and a small fee gave us our title. Until that point, we could have argued that we owned the minivan, but we did not have the title as proof.

Recently, the Lord gave me a prophetic word for someone. The enemy had been robbing them for years in small ways. I was given the symbolism of the Borrowers. It is not the will of God that the enemy steal from us. Too many believers have believed the lie of the enemy that God is allowing low-level theft to keep them humble. Jesus came that we might live life to the fullest, and the enemy comes to steal from us.

What do you possess in your life that you do not own the title to? I am not referring to actual titles but the confidence that God has entrusted to your care. It sounds like humility to say thing like, “God can bless me if he wants to, but I will just be happy with I have.” and “Whatever will be, will be”, but it is passivity. Jesus, in the context of being ready for his return said in Mathew 24, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing”. We have a responsibility for what God has entrusted with, and we will give an account for what happened to it.

Today, I challenge you make a choice to claim the title for what God has given to you. Do not be OK with letting the enemy steal from you. Fully possess and own what God has made you a steward over. Use it to honor him and to serve others. Each of us will give an account of how we handled God’s resources. There will be no acceptable excuses on that day.

The Faithfulness of God

I dreamed last night of God’s faithfulness. In the dream, I was given an explanation of what his faithfulness looks like: He covers us fully in our life and in our being. He is the fully sufficient God. In certain areas though that will differ over the course of our lives, he will choose to not reveal himself in that area. It is with the intent that we would trust him by faith and not by sight. It is always temporary because he intends to reveal himself to us in that area too.

Here is a practical application of this principle: Identify the area of your life in which it seems as though God has not covered you and in which he has not revealed himself. Then, look over the rest of your life and identify where he has provided for you and revealed his nature. See that he has encircled the exposed area with his faithfulness. He is holding that area tightly. You cannot comprehend what he is doing there at the moment, but he has surrounded that area with his favor and his kindness. Trust him to increase your faith in his nature.

Spoiled Things

One morning this week, I woke up thinking about the people that I need to continue forgiving. I have always had perfectionist standards for myself and for other people. It has led me to be disappointed and angry with myself, God, and many people whom I have walked with in my life. Forgiveness has been a struggle because to forgive meant accepting that things had not worked as I had hoped.

When I got out of bed, I found that our refrigerator door had opened up during the night. The fridge had been full of large dishes, and it could not quite contain its contents. I had to toss some food because it was above a safe temperature. It felt like a lesson from the Lord about forgiveness. God desires to use our daily lives to enable us for heavenly living. He has given us all things needed for life and godliness through the full and intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ.

This particular lesson allowed me to see forgiveness in a new light. In order to forgive, it is necessary to accept an important truth: Life events and relationship that we expected to nourish us and to delight us went bad. They simply spoiled. When I threw out food from the fridge, it was tempting to believe that the food might actually be OK and to keep it for consumption. To do so might have made me and my family sick. When we are unable to forgive, we are holding on to spoiled things because we are determined to keep living off those things. It is a refusal to accept that something went bad and that it is time to just let it go.

Once I disposed of the items that were questionable, it allowed me to move on and to focus on what was still good and what needed to be restocked. Forgiveness allows us to do the same thing. It does not make those things OK, but it allows us to move past what happened. Unforgiveness will make us emotionally sick because we are consuming things that have gone bad. It does not mean that we instantly forget what happened. It does mean that we can begin to replace our memories of what went bad with new things that nourish our hearts.

The Good Life

Everyone wants the good life. Here are two possible definitions of the “good life”. Regardless of your choice, the good life will cost you everything. The only difference is what you will gain in place of what you lost. You and I have this choice to make in general because we are on Earth and particularly become of the years ahead. It is that simple…

Choice #1:
This American system of ours, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make the most of it. - Al Capone

Choice #2:
This is the good life
I've lost everything
I could ever want
And ever dream of
This is the good life
I found everything
I could ever need
Here in Your arms
- Audio Adrenaline in Good Life

Deepest Desires

Last night, I dreamed of a church gathering. The theme given by the Holy Spirit was for people to write down the deepest desires of their heart. There was a group on stage who was praying with people about what they had written down. Someone asked if the desires could include things that we wanted God to change in our lives. The answer provided was to write down our heart desires in a honest fashion, just to tell God what was on our hearts. Initially, the leader intended to share each person's desires with the group as a whole. Due to possible discomfort within the group, they changed their mind and said that we would come back in the summer to share what we had written down.

The time was short and not everyone made it on stage, but I understood that I could continue the process after the service. As I contemplated the deepest desires of my heart and worked to put them on paper, a woman in the group stood up. She shared that God had spoke a word to her spirit when she had been at the airport. Then she began to sing a song to the Lord. As she sang, there was a clear sense that God was calling us to move from a focus on our desires to a focus of praising him. Everyone stood and joined the woman in the song of praise to God.

Afterwards, a man came to me to let me know of someone who had recently spent time in a mental institution. Apparently, I had spoken a word over them that they were at risk for paranoia and they had not followed through with a response that would have prevented such an incident.

I believe that God is probing our hearts and wants us to be honest with him about what we deeply desire. As we place our desires before him, he will turn our hearts to praise him. He is worthy of our focus. It does not mean that our desires are not important, but it does mean that we must worship Father in spirit and in truth. In this time, the alternative is a deep fear that "dreams" of all the ways that we could be not taken care of, not protected, and not provided for. It is time for us to dream of the hopeful future that God has placed within our hearts and to praise him for what he has done our behalf and for who he is.

Like the woman in the airport, we are waiting on God to propel us further than we could ever go in our strength. As our hearts are open before him and as we praise him, we will find that he fulfils godly heart desires in the proper season.

Does God Hide?

We have often heard the verse that starts out, "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then...". Why would God's people need to seek God's face? Because God hides his face from his people when they claim his name but live in wickedness. God calls us to himself and continually convicts us. It is possible for us to enter into a place of believing that we will be untouched by the coming catastrophes and yet be mistaken. Though Micah 3 was originally about the nation of Israel, the nature of God toward his people is unchanging.

4 Then they will cry to the Lord,

But He will not hear them;

He will even hide His face from them at that time,

Because they have been evil in their deeds.

And later in the chapter:
11 Her heads judge for a bribe,
Her priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, and say,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
Zion shall be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And the mountain of the temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.

There are hard days coming upon the US and the world. It is intended in part to purify those who claim to belong to Jesus. May our confidence be true faith and not presumption! When the economy collapses, the banks close, and there is no food on the grocery shelves, it will terrible for those who have not lived in the place of intimate obedience. Samson operated in a powerful gift even while he was in the midst of comprise. In a moment, he lost it all. May we be spiritually ready lest God hide his face from us in the day of trouble. Though we call out to him at that time, he will not hear us until we have turned from our wicked ways.

Performance Tracking?

I am still thinking about a dream that I had earlier this week. I dreamed of a roller coaster. On it, drove a small car that raced up and down its tracks. It seemed as though it must be breaking speed records, but then I wondered, “How would I know if it is actually going as fast as I think it is?”. The answer came in the form of a small jet plane. It cruised right along with the car. No matter how fast the car went or which turns it took, the plane stayed faithfully with it. The nose of the plane stayed within inches of the car as it zoomed along. It appeared to be the perfect answer to the question of performance tracking. As the dreamed ended, one important piece of information was revealed: The plane was named "Shame”.

Performance is very much like a roller coaster. I have days where I am looking over the landscape of my life and other days where I cannot see beyond the dirt under my chin. It is the natural flow of my life. I cannot maintain a high level of performance, but thankfully, I never stay in the valley indefinitely.

I am learning that the need to measure my performance is based out of my humanity and my desire to save myself. Any time that I think that I might be performing well, it seems helpful to ask myself, “Do I feel acceptable now?”. I suspect shame and perfectionism are closely connected because the answer will always be, “No, not acceptable yet. You need to perform at a higher level, but you can proud of how you much you are doing to perfect yourself!”. It leads to comparing myself with others who seem to perform at a much higher level which in turn leads to envy, self-loathing, and finally, a more intensive effort to perform. Yikes, that was exhausting just to write about!

I am in the middle of walking this out. I believe that Jesus will not abandon me. I know that God will bring me to a place where I do not equate intense labor with acceptability. Recently, I dreamed of being in the workplace. It was a familiar setting, but I was different inside. As I quietly worked, I noted that straining in my work was no longer a requirement to feel that my contribution was effective. There is a time coming for me when I will be able to enjoy life and to enjoy relationship without being self-centered in my perspective. I am continually praying for the grace of God to keep moving in that direction.

Giving Up My Religion

This week, I dreamed of a visit by Jesus to Earth. I saw a large restaurant/bar before me. Around it hovered a cloud of dust that hung like smoke. From the building came the sound of many voices in mingled conversation. I had the sense that the people inside were of this world's system and not of those who knew Jesus as Lord. Jesus stepped up to the outside of the building and began to blow with his lips. The dust gradually dissipated until the air was clear. He started to speak to the people that were inside. He was not angry, but he spoke with a firm voice. At first, no one heard him. As he continued to speak, people started to hear his voice until all were silent.

I could not make out what he was saying, but his tone was amazing. He spoke with an authority that made it easy to yield to him. As I stood listening, I bowed my heart before him. It occurred to me that I would be happy to spend forever listening to the sound of his voice. It made me feel very secure inside. Once he was done speaking to the people in the building, he approached me briefly. I do not have a clear understanding of what he did next in the dream, but what he did carried a clear meaning: Jesus is not religious at all. As the dreamed ended, I was saying, "I might have to give up my religion". I had discovered that Jesus was something more than I had imagined him to be, and I knew that I would have to let go of what I wrongly thought what he was.

Growing up as a Christian, I knew that Jesus was not like those of this world's system, those that we call "worldly people". So, I imagined that he had to be like us Christians. After all, we are his representatives to a lost world, so he must be like us. I do not believe that I ever thought it explicitly, but it seemed to be a logical assumption. The truth that I get from my dream is this: Jesus is not worldly but neither is he religious. Generally, I would consider myself to be very non-religious, but my proof is only that I am less in this way or that way than those folks from the church across town. To be honest, that sounds a little like the self-righteous man who justified himself before God because he was not like worldly people.

Jesus is not like us. God is in the process of shaping our inner person to resemble Jesus' character, and we are called to represent him. In spite of those facts, I am not very like him, nor do I represent him well to others. Do not get me wrong. I often think that he belongs my school of thought. I congratulate myself inside that I represent him better than some other folks. The reality though is that he does not think the way that I do. He is not religious like I am.

As Father begins to pour out his Spirit about the Earth, Jesus will encounter both the worldly and the believing. We are going to find out very quickly that he is everything that he says is and yet far different that what we confidently believed he was. We have compared him to ourselves and have believed that he is just like us. We are about to find out just how wrong we were and how wonderful he actually is. As we start to receive a deeper revelation of who Jesus is, we will either be so offended that we will hate him or we will be changed to resemble him as he truly is. He is not religious like we are today, and he is coming to strip religion from us.

Grace for Division

Everyone loves the idea of unity. There have been many efforts to unite different parts of the US Church. They have been groups that sought to create coalitions between secular organizations and the Church. They has even been some work done to form common ground between Christianity and other world religions. I suspect that very few people in the US Church would feel comfortable hearing or declaring a message of division and disunity.

In the midst of the attempts to create unity, the focus has been on the superficial. We have tried to find the lowest common denominator so that we could build from there. The time is soon coming when the issues will come to the forefront in a way that forces us to focus on the heart of the disagreements. The result will be a season of intense division and disunity. Many hearts will be pierced by the troubles that are coming.

In Matthew 10, Jesus told us that he had not come to bring peace to the Earth but division. He will not allow our affections for him to be watered down. Anything that runs contrary to a Christ-centered walk is non-negotiable. In the conflict that is coming to the Church, neighbor will fight against neighbor because we can only one First Love. There must be division because unity is the joining of two parties. We cannot be both joined to Christ and joined to the things that break his heart. When the fighting has ceased, it will appear at first that it was the work of the flesh. It is easy to believe that anything that causes division and disunity is of the enemy. Once the final tally has been made though, it will be shown that God gave grace for division in order to bring about greater unity between himself and his bride.

Kingdoms Made Manifest

Most people are safe today from being exposed to raving mad, demonized individuals. The ones who have been overwhelmed by the voices of demons are probably largely medicated or institutionalized. Not all, but some of the men and women who wander the streets homeless might also be in their number. There is a day coming to the US when these tormented ones will no longer be hidden away. The kingdom of darkness is coming out of the shadows until it is made manifest in broad daylight.

It will be somewhat common to hear of violent men who beat up strangers for no apparent reason. In the movie Batman Begins, there is a scene in which part of the city is cut off so that a mind warping drug can be dispersed. The affected people are horribly overwhelmed by fearful visions until they mindless hurt anyone who comes into their path. This is a vivid representation of what is coming to the US.

The Kingdom of God will also be made manifest. Through the blood stained cross, Jesus destroyed the enemy’s authority. We will begin to see the kingdom that Jesus established through and in his Church move outside of buildings and onto the sidewalks. The only question will be what kingdom you are actually operating out of.

In Acts 19, the seven sons of Sceva claimed the authority of Jesus as their own in order to deliver a demonized man. The demon was not fooled and used the man to beat the daylights out of them. The name “Sceva” means “disposed, prepared”. These boys grew up in church because their daddy was a chief priest. They considered themselves willing and able to confront the kingdom of darkness. They were wrong about having the right to operate under the authority of Jesus because they were subjects of the kingdom of darkness.

 In the kingdoms that will be made manifest, it will be clear who is of which kingdom. If your authority has been granted to you from having regularly attended church, listening to countless sermons, and having been trained by human experts, you are going to get the tar beat out of you by the enemy! It is going as much a shock to many believers as it was to the sons of Sceva. Now is the time to dig deep in Christ. Find out who you are based on what the Word of God and the Spirit of God has to say about you. Let God taper with your heart so that the idols can be torn down and your inner being filled to the fullest with the kingdom and authority of Jesus Christ.

The New Outcasts

If you profess Jesus, there is a sign meant for you that will hang in local businesses. It is not there today, but there is a day coming when the sign in the window will say, “No Christians Served Here”. If you walk in, you will not need to tell them that you are a believer in Jesus. They will look at you and know. The same good and moral people today will be the same good and moral people tomorrow except that they will hate you. In fact, it will be their goodness and morality that will cause them to loathe you. In the same way that it is considered acceptable to hate a child molester today, it will be considered noble to hate a Christian in the future time. They will hate you because it is “all your fault”.

Many wish in their hearts, “Oh, that God would allow me to bear his glory!”. The evidence of bearing God’s glory today involves human awe and many natural realm benefits. In the day to come, you will know that you bear the glory of God when you are openly hated without cause. The highest heavenly calling is to love those who hate you, to bless those who curse you, and pray for those who despitefully use you. It is this calling that will accompany the glory of God.

There is a whisper in the air that says, “There is a New Age dawning”. There is indeed, but it will be a day of darkness. The heart of man will grow cold and unfeeling. In this new age, you will be the outcasts. People will look at you and say, “It is a shame, really. They were offered a great deal, but they chose to be obstacles to progress. Shame on them for not getting with the program”.

Today is the season in which we must count the cost. How much do you require of Jesus to be loyal to him? The benefits of professing him are currently much greater than the cost. Many will change their minds about Jesus when the cost becomes higher than the benefits.

Out of Storage

One morning last week, I was on my way to work when I saw something that momentarily startled me. I saw a company truck for a communications company that I thought was a thing of the past. The logo on the vehicle appeared to be faded. When things are “highlighted”, it is one of the ways that God speaks. This is what I believe he was saying.

In the move of God that is soon coming to our nation and presumably to the whole world, we are going to see some older faces. They are those who were part of previous moves of God. Those revivals were amazing, but they are history from our current perspective. Many faithful believers that were part of those heavenly encounters faded from the scene as life went on. They have been in storage, seemly having been put on a shelf. God will going to bring back at least some of those folks for an “all hands on deck” event.

Heaven's Joyful Song

Today was one of those challenging days at work. By the end of the day, I was tired and somewhat discouraged of heart. I ran across a word that God gave me a year ago. It breathed fresh life into me.

From 8/2013:

For those who abide in Christ, there is only good news. There are no "good news, bad new" jokes. There is only increase and growth throughout all the adversity that might come. We are those who carry the standard of Jesus Christ. Our very footprints glow with the Light of the good news. Wherever we go, we go as those who sing the Anthem of the Eternal Kingdom.

Those in darkness have been seen a Light coming. It rises on the Horizon, and that Light is us. We are the sons and daughters of Daddy made manifest in the Earth. Oh, they will say, "The pendulum swings from side. We have good news one day and terrible news the next", but this is only the echoes of the times past. There is a new Kingdom coming onto the Earth. It is being formed from the rough material of humanity as the Spirit of God rises within those who know that they in Christ and in Christ alone.

They are those who rise up as Ehud to deliver the land from wickedness. They are those who are being drawn from out of timidity and hiding to call together an army of the fearless. They rush the streets, calling this one and that to come out of hiding in the natural and to step into their Kingdom identity. Can you hear the sound of them and of the growing footsteps on the pavement? They are an army of worshippers. They fear no man! They carry instruments of worship with which to do battle.

They stand in the noble towers and invade the darkest alley. They are the reborn men and women of God. They range in age from the smallest child to the oldest elder in our midst. They have no sense of age and no fear of man's disapproval. They are filled with the Spirit of the One who is the Ancient of Days and who was born as a little baby. Out they go, they stream from intersection to intercession. The lost and the broken who roam through high school halls and those who shout at the New York Stock Exchange are about to visited by those bearing Heaven's message of deliverance.

That which is wicked and that which has mocked righteousness in the land will soon by overwhelmed by the Sound. What is the squeak of a mouse in front of the roar of a lion? What does darkness have that Light cannot instantly dispose of? Oh, they say, "The World shifts back and forth. Rulers comes and rulers fall. We need someone who carries Truth". It will come, quietly at first and then rising until the news carries the News. The News of the Kingdom will stand more boldly than our Statue of Liberty.

A greater liberty is being declared, a freedom from chains of sin and depravity. A greater anthem will be sung than even our beautiful National Anthem. What is darkness in the face of Light? The song bubbles up in the hearts of the young and the old. It comes phrase by phrase and note by note. It builds and it joins with neighbor's tune. It is beautiful, so very beautiful.

It is composed of Spirit and joined by human hearts in love with Jesus and with each other. There is no one left out, no unneeded vocalist. All remain silent and in awe as each releases the piece that eternity's maker wrote on their heart. It is the very reality of Heaven superimposed on the landscape of our country. They are the choir of Heaven, the evergreens that have overcome the bitter storms of this world's realm. The wind of the Spirit blows between them, among them, and is birthed from them. All of evil's cry is little more than feedback in the speakers. It is the annoying but short-lived response of Hell to the resounding of Heaven's joy released in the Earth.

Time for an Upgrade and for Bigger Dreams

Last night, I dreamed that I was at work. Apparently, there had been plans to do an upgrade or else to do major maintenance work on the computer servers. It would require significant downtime, and so the work had been pushed out another weekend. Specialized people with the necessary technical knowledge would be coming onsite to help do the work. While I was aware of this situation, my boss gave me a creative writing assignment. She prefaced it by saying, “Before California officially made abortion illegal, the people of California first passed a proposition to make it illegal”.

Many of us in the Body of Christ have been aware of the need for a Church-wide “system maintenance” and an upgrade of our relationship with the Lord. Seemingly, it has been deferred, but it will yet happen. God will supply the specialized people needed to assist and to guide this work as well. We have been ready to move forward in our human labors, but God requires that we enter a time of rest so that His work can be done in us. Be ready to move forward into Heaven's rest.

God is about to bring about changes in our country that are beyond what we had imagined possible. When you begin to hear the news of what God is doing in other parts of the country and of the Body, it is an invitation to start dreaming bigger. What God desires to do in your locale will flow from a place of creative dreams in your own heart. It is not automatic. It requires an effort to step into the creative flow, but God will meet you there in that place.

The Agenda of God’s Rest

This week, I dreamed that I was at a public worship event. I sat in a large oval amphitheater. I do not remember anyone singing. It was though everyone present was just sitting in their seats. Suddenly, a fog began to fill the arena. It thickened as it came. Though I have never seen this manifestation in real life, I knew instantly that this was the manifest Presence of God. I closed my eyes and chose to simply rest in this place. Off to one side of me, a man spoke up. He was offering his opinion about what we should do next. He was not prompted by the Holy Spirit. He spoke out of his own earthly wisdom. Immediately, the visible Presence of God lifted, everyone got out their seats, and left the amphitheater. It was very disappointing.

In my teen years, I wanted two things in life more than anything else. I wanted to know/experience/be intimately connected with God, and I wanted to be used by Him to serve others. Experiencing God’s Presence was such a wonderful treat that I determined inside that I did not qualify for it. To make up for that, I made an internal covenant with myself that I would strenuously serve God outwardly and pray inwardly until I felt deserving. It never worked well. The only time that I could really enjoy God was when I used my spiritual gifts to minister to others. It was in those moments that I become a conduit that I experienced the touch of God flowing through me. Of course, I did so with the knowledge that I was serving others mostly so that I could get a taste of what God was giving them through me. I am not exactly where I was in my teen years. I have been healed enough to see how broken I was then, and how broken I am now. The difference might be that I know that God wants to be with me now, right here in my brokenness.

God will allow his people to slave away for him as the older brother did, but then we are not really working with him. The younger brother who has completely failed and yet been lavished with kindness is the one who rests in Father’s Presence. I believe that we are approaching a time when God will manifest in amazing ways, but there is a price to be paid: Our agendas must die. Our labors must cease. We must be willing to rest in his Presence. There will be a time to be used by him and to labor with him, but we must be willing to become saturated in the atmosphere of his glory first. Heaven will not partner with fleshly effort. God is still looking for those who would worship him in spirit and in truth.

Radiant Love

Have you ever stood close enough to a person who is overflowing with the Spirit of God that you felt God’s Presence radiating from them? There are plenty of anointed people who can function in a spiritual gift, but there is a difference when someone is releasing the Presence of God from their being. Those are people that I just want to sit near so that I can soak in that atmosphere.

Last night, I dreamed that a man walked by where I was standing. Later in the dream, I found out that he was another believer, but I did not know that in the beginning of the dream scene. He was an ordinary middle age man, but he had something special flowing from his being: Love. When he walked by me, I felt very tangible love moving outward from him.

As Christians, we try to love people, both through an emotional affection and through practical kindness. Oftentimes, I find that it is a love that is intentionally produced for a specific person or group. This love in the dream was different. It was warm and inviting, and yet, it was an identity in itself. It did not exist solely for my benefit or as a response to me. It existed and was stable in itself. It radiated from the man in the dream. I wanted to walk up to him and hug him just so that I could keep experiencing this love.

It gives me hope that God will yet release a love through us that will be radically different than what our best efforts can produce. This dream also inspires a renewed hunger in my heart for the love that I experienced. There is more to the Presence of God that we can imagine. Jesus is complete and stable in his own person, and he invites us to enter into his Presence.