Jump to:
Word of the Lord - April and May 2008: America’s Moment is About to Come
We are on the threshold in the American Christian church of the Lord’s “anointing of the moment.”
The Fire of God is beginning to burn as an oven! The western and mountain states are beginning to blaze with a new increase of desire to be married to the Lord. The Lord is awakening a Holy Jealousy in the Central, Northeast, plain and Southern States, “what about us Lord?”
The Lord would say to you, how desperate are you to return to your first love? How desperate are you to do your first work? How desperate are you to buy gold tried by the fire? How desperate are you to get the eye salve so you can see and the white raiment to cover your nudity.”
Hear the word of the Lord, America! Out of a mouth of a 10 year old prophet, “CRY OUT, CRY OUT, CRY OUT FOR THE FIRE! CRY OUT IT IS OUR TIME, IT IS OUR MOMENT! YOUTH IN AMERICA, YOUR MOMENT HAS COME, FOR THE GENERATION OF WILDERNESS WANDERERS IS ALMOST TO AN END. YOU WILL GO IN AND POSSESS THE LANDS YOUR FATHERS WOULD NOT TAKE!
You shall be called the “holy ones” of the Lord, the “saints of the most high God. You shall be known as the generation of the “burning ones.” Hear the word of the Lord Chicago, my fire is coming to you once again and I am about to blow on your city one final time! I am bringing forth the “burning ones” to be sent to the cities, states and nations of the world and nothing will stop the Spirit of burning I have sent.
For the Spirit of Burning has come to my church as I stand in her midst with feet of bronze, this must before the Spirit of Judgment comes upon the earth. So who will be my “burning ones?” Who will come and stand in the midst of the fire? Who can stand when I appear? Who can endure the day you are now in. The day has begun, it has come to many unaware. The day of separation of the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, and the fat sheep from the lean sheep. The day of choice is upon you America. WHO IS ON THE LORD’S SIDE!
This day you are now in is burning like an oven to all those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. It is a day of great intensity, a day where you will know that I will uphold you with my right hand. I told you this was the year called the “upholding.” I will uphold all those who will diligently seek me. I am a rewarder and I will reward you with my upholding. This is the greatest blessing I could release upon you in this hour is my ‘upholding hand”
Many are prophesying revival, money is coming and more in my name, but few will understand that above all is my “upholding.” I upheld Moses, Abraham, and Joseph! They knew my upholding power! I upheld Daniel, Israel, Isaac throughout the journey to Me. My “burning ones” are not experiencing anointing “to preach, teach, work gifts,” they are experiencing the “anointing of the moment!” The upholding and the uplifting in their spirits to enter into the good of the land. They are understanding and coming out of the earthly into the spiritual.
These burning ones, these holy ones are being set apart for my end time plan. All are invited, but few will take the invitation to become a “burning one” for me. Just as Moses looked upon a bush on fire and not consumed, so shall it be with my burning ones. The moment of transfiguration is upon those who are giving up all to buy the pearl of great price. I am calling you America into your moment. I am calling you, American church, into your moment. Choose you this day whom you are going to serve. Get the idols out of your heart and out of my house.
Cast out the foreign idols you have allowed in your hearts, the ways of the world that our foreign to my My Spirit.
Hear my word. “Come out from among them my people. Touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you.” I want to release the blessings of this moment upon you, but it is richer and deeper than you understand. You must come up here with me, so I can show you the things to come.
Hear O, western states, “The Lord has need of thee!” Here O, Southwest states, “the Lord has need of you. Here O, Mountain stated, “The Lord has need of thee for this moment in time. Arise to your feet, bring your lamps and come through the door that I have now opened for you. This is the day that your celebration shall begin, for I have made a way in the desert and brought forth streams in the wilderness.
Hear Eastern States, Hear South Eastern States, Hear Midwestern states and Heartland state. You must come out to where I am. You must lay down your pride and arrogance and recognize the spiritual state you are in. You must come and buy the gold tried by the fire. Don’t rejoice the devils obey you, but rejoice that your name is written in the lamb’s book of life. I have chosen the first to be last, and the last shall be first, and so shall be in this nation. I will restore the beginning at the end, but it must be this way to fulfill all things I have said over this nation.
Do not look to the presidential election for the answer. Don’t look to change just the government. Look to change your heart to meet the requirements of my heart. For all those who look for an earthly king shall find one in your midst. Those who want another king with me, will surely see one of their own kind rise to power and position in this nation. The government is upon my shoulders, not the shoulders of men. The shoulders of men were set apart to carry the ark of the presence of the Lord. Why are you trying to replace my Glory with government? Turn to me, while you still have time and I will bring another revolution of my Spirit to this nation, and the governments will be upon my shoulders.
Cities of refuge will begin to spring up and I have chosen you O wicked city of Chicago to become a city of refuge of the Lord. I am removing the spirit of corruption from your midst by my ‘burning ones” I am sending into your midst. “A Chicago fire is about to be lit once again for this nation, for I am sending my wind to blow on that which is about to go out. You will see the Glory of the Lord in your midst.
A little one shall lead them. Youth of America you shall make a way for my presence. You will be a generation prepared for my Glory; for I am expanding you even this day to rise up in the spirit of Joshua and Caleb. You will be my mighty ones and my burning ones.
The time for change is at your door. Who will answer the call to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand? Who will lay down their pride and say I am poor, blind, pitiable and naked. Pastor’s do you hear my call to “let go” and look up? Apostles, do you see my flame in your midst to lay the foundation of the church, or will you build upon your own need to be needed? Prophets are you building yourself a name like at Babel and working under the spirit of a hireling? Evangelist are you sharing the word of God because you “truly love them like I do, “or because you must do your ministry? Teachers are you more concerned about getting on TBN, then equipping my sheep with the real substance of my presence and food to grow by.
I see the wickedness and wrong motives in my house and I am coming with a spirit of burning to purify the hearts, the intentions and motives of “why you are doing what you are doing in my name.” Many are going to be angry with me as I take their toys away. Many are going to get angry when I tell them their present ministry has ended, lay it down. Many are going to get angry when I send younger ones with deeper anointing to take their place in my Body.
I am jealous over you America. Now is your time, get up! Now is your moment, take your place! Now is the time to seek the Lord while He still may be found! Don’t miss your season of repentance and change. It is standing at your door!
America your moment is here! Do you want your destiny fulfilled? You are called “ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!” You can become what you were destined to be only by the FLAME OF GOD that is now in your midst. Your programs, church, will never achieve what MY FLAME can do in 2 minutes in my burning ones. Turn around while you still have time, it is not too late, but you must hear the clarion call to COME NOW, ALL THINGS ARE READY!
Word of the Lord - March 2008: The Western Gold Rush
Behold it is time for the region called the “setting of the sun’ to burn with my Holy FLAMES! From the mountain states to the Western and Southwestern States in this nation, I say, behold the Fire has come! The Very Flame of God’s presence is beginning to ignite all over this region. A flame of My Holiness says the Lord. From the mountains to the desert and to the ocean have I made a Highway called Holiness.
Can you not perceive it? Do you not see it? The Flame of YAH JOVAH is burning in this region. A burning flame has come to allure my bride to the wilderness to be betrothed to me in righteousness, stability and faithfulness. My presence is not coming as rain to this region but as the hottest refining fire the world has ever seen or my church has ever experienced. For I am coming with the Spirit of Burning and the Spirit of Judgment. I have come to refine my priests like Gold and Silver. Who can endure the day of my coming? Who can stand when I appear. I appearing to you just as I said as a Refining Fire and fuller soap.
Just as over 100 years ago and more their was a GOLD RUSH to this region, once again shall they come from the east to find the gold. Not the natural gold found in caves and in the earth, but the Gold tried by my fire found only in my own heart. Yes, they are going to come from all over the earth to this region to buy the Gold and sell it not. For this Gold can only be found in this time of spiritual excavation. Who will dig to find this gold? Who will sell all to find this treasure that can not rust but remain forever.
From Wyoming to Colorado, Texas to Tucson, Las Vegas to Seattle, San Fransisco to San Diego my presence is going to burn like an oven! I am thoroughly cleansing my treshing floor, and I am separating the wheat from the tares. I am removing the holy from the profane, the lie from the truth and a Spiritual revolution is coming forth from the South West and Mountain states that has never been seen before or seen again.
Woe to you inhabitants in the east, your hour came and you said I will come later. Woe to you inhabitant of South East, we played for you, and you did not come, now you will have come to the land of the setting of the sun to see my Glory! For you will come out of your dead places and you will come to this place of my choosing and live, says the Lord. For I will re-awaken you East Coast and South East one more time before the hour closes upon you.
But I am calling you to come and join the “GOLD RUSH!” Will you answer my call and come? Will you desire to find your rich inheritance? Then put away your foolish things and here the sound of the Bridegroom coming at the midnight hour. Will you be a wise virgin or foolish? The choices you make now will determine your position forever in Me.
I say awaken California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas! Awaken Colorado, Wyoming, Oregon and Washington, for I have called you for such a time as this. Do you here the sound coming from the mountains? PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD! The Fire has come, the Gold is being brought forth from the depth of the needy ones, the desperate ones, the passionate ones. They shall come forth as Gold tried by the fire and their inheritance will be rich forever and ever.
Who is the wise man, when he found the pearl of great price went and sold all he had to buy the field? Who will know the true cost to purchase this Gold? Who will pay the price to buy it?
For I the Lord has declared a new day! The desert is about to bloom. There will be rivers in the desert and streams in the wilderness and the voice of the turtledove will be heard from this region that will shake the nations. For I am raising up the Native Americans. I am raising up the Mexicans. I am raising up the Asians to burn with the Glory of the Lord as the armor for battle. I am raising up an army of youth that will be filled with the power of the FLAME OF GOD!
Here I am, say the Lord. Who can endure the day of my coming? I have sent fire starters through out this region, and their work is almost complete to cause this region to burn with the Flame of God, for PERFECT LOVE has cast out all fear. I am about to burn up the false, the man made reasoning in my church and every cloned ministry will come to an end. I am going to erase the money changers from my house in this region. I am going to erase your calendars and agendas to make money as you use my words to steal from my people.
All the arrogant ones will be like nothing, and the “named ones” will be brought low. For I am lifting up the skirt of the pretenders. I am removing the false unity and purpose that is in the hearts of these leaders who are taking my people from me for their own gain. I am removing the lies from the pulpits to the work place. A highway of Holiness is springing forth from the wilderness, until it can be said, “who is this coming forth from the wilderness leaning upon her beloved.”
I am going to send a great wind to this region in the next 90 days to fan the flame of the spiritual revolution I have started, The wind will blow even in the natural to cut away the chaff from the wheat. It is going to expose every false motive and secret motive that is destroying my people that is in the hearts of my leaders. Many ministries are about to have an earth quake under the power of the Holy Spirit so that everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Only that which can stand the shaking can remain in my house.
My jealous love is burning for this nation, and since the east coast has said come back later, I will have you leaver your comfort and come to the Western States to buy the Gold. For the Last shall be surely First(western states) and you will make prepare a way for my coming, says the Lord. For the West shall not be known for its youth and its cowboy days anymore.
It will be known as the place a “spiritual revolution” was born, the place of the GOLD RUSH! The east coast birthed the first revolution with a tea party. The South, West and Mountain states will birth the spiritual revolution for this nation and the world with a Flame of YAH JOVAH party richer than the day of Pentecost.
You must find your place in me now while you still have time. Repent and allow me to show you the things that are still in your heart. Turn from your wicked ways and I will heal this land. Then and then alone will you find the true GOLD RUSH that has been TRIED BY THE FIRE. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
It is time for the Flame of God to burn and bring these sparks of flame together for my purpose. It is time for the people of God to find and buy the Gold tried by the fire. The fire is here to refine and purify the heart and bring forth a cry “my Ishi (my husband). The day of spiritual adultery is over says the Lord. I will have a bride adorned in white garments! The west is the place of the changing of the garments. For it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.
The word for 2008 must become flesh: The scourging of the Lord!
Dear beloved reader,
It has been to long since I have been able to write anything on the blog site, but tonight I do feel the unction of the Holy Spirit to write a word for February 2008. I don't think I realized what the Lord gave me in the prophetic word for 2008. I didn't know that we were going to be tested and tried like never before. I should have after 25 years of walking in ministry. I should have knonw how we would need the word of the Lord that this was TO to be called, the YEAR OF UPHOLDING of the Lord.
So many things have happened since God gave me that word, and one thing I know about the Lord is that the revelation must become your life's experience. The word must become flesh or personalized in our life. Often time the very word of hope, leads you through the darkest places where you can not see, hear or even move sometimes. Have you ever been there? I know the desert seasons, the dry seasons, but there is a time of scourging or a season where we are scourged of the Lord for a deeper preparation of His life to flow out from within us.
I have to laugh sometimes (really cry), because I seem to live a lot in this season as of late. The Lord has allowed the circumstances in my life for a purpose. This purpose is to work a deeper work of His character and nature in me as he does all of us who are hungry for the Lord. But SCOURGING? Who would want that? This is not a popular make you feel good teaching. This is not a word to exhort us in the manner of the modern day preachers that say you can do anything and God wants to prosper you. This word is about "YOU CAN DO NOTHING!" This word says, "Apart from Me you can do nothing" don't you get it? The process of God emptying you of all your own strength, your self worth, until there is nothing left but the heart that has learned to cling or cleave or lean upon the Lord alone.
Right now personally, I am being stretched beyond anything that I have ever been through before since my Father's homecoming in 1989. During that time, the demands upon me were incredible. My father needed me, my mom needed me. My wife, my children and all my staff and members of the church I was pasturing needed me as well. I tried so hard to continue and do all the things I could until finally one day I broke down and wept. I said to the Lord, " I can't do this anymore. I feel like the guy carrying 15 boxes and someone comes and puts one more on them and I dropped them all. I can't do this."
I was waiting for the Lord to console me. I was waiting to hear, "you poor thing!" I needed some kind of sympathy from the Lord. Wasn't He near to those who are burdened? Do you know what I heard? I heard him say, "I never asked you to do all these things." I wasn't very pleased with that answer! I said to Him, "what do you mean, I am a Pastor, a Father, a Son, A husband. What am I supposed to do drop everything and let them sink?" Again, I did not get the reply that I wanted. He said to me, " I have only asked you to do what I tell you to do each day. I have asked you to listen to my voice and obey me and do only what I say." If I have not told you to do it, don't do it, even if the people scream at you that you are not helping them." You are either going to please me or them, who are you doing it for,Me or them." OUCH!
You see beloved, in John 10:1-5, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of stranger.
Yes, beloved the voice of the stranger His sheep won't follow. At that time in my life there were "many voices." Voices that demanded my time, my life and my energy and often time those voices were coming through those I loved the most. As I surrendered to those voices, I could not win. The more I did, the more I failed. It was truly a no win situation. I prayed through this time and didn't find any relief. It seemed as God Himself was abandoning me. It seemed like He didn't even care about my plight.
Then all of my friends, you know the Job kind of friends, came around me offering good advice, but all I wanted to do was yell, SHUT UP, you don't even know what you are talking about. I tried to obey God with my whole heart, I was righteous like Job in my own eyes. The more I went into this line of thinking, the more unjust I felt God was in dealing with me. I could begin to identify for the first time in my life with the words Jesus said from the cross at Calvary. "Father, Father, why have you forsaken me."
It was here, I began to understand what it meant to be scourged by the Lord. The Lord was correcting me, disciplining me not because I was bad, but because I was a legitimate son of God. He was proving my worth by this process. He was dealing with the hidden motives in my heart, the hidden sin that was still in me. During that time a whole bunch of stuff came out of me that I thought was gone. Wrong! It was just hidden. I began not even to like myself at all, I was disgusting and dirty and I surely didn't want to be around anyone. Yet somehow, I was justified in feeling the way I did. God was wronging me, letting me suffer beyond what I could bear, I thought.
I would call my Pastor for prayer and all he would tell me while he was laughing was, "Brother Henry, you are smack dab in the middle of God's will. God is scouring you." I hung up with him and said "great." Now, I am being scourged, punished for my faults. I was not a very happy camper at that time. I wish I could say that it was just a one time event, but recently I think the scourging process is intensifying and becoming more frequent. Why the scourging? Jesus is coming for a church without spot, wrinkle or blemish. How would you get the stains out of a human heart? He does it in this manner using the scourging process to empty that human heart of all it's SELF SUFFICIENCY, all its SELF ABILITY and STRENGTH until there is not one drop of our own strength left that we can use. Think about if for a moment, why did God have to lead Moses to the desert for 40 years to become a shepherd? He was trained in all the ways of Egypt was He not? He had all the natural abilities to become a great leader of the Israelites, yet God would not let him use one once of that strength but had to empty him of it. He emptied Moses so much that when God was ready to send him as the deliverer, he said to the Lord, "who am I Lord, that I should go to Pharaoh, I can't even speak?"
That is the fruit of what scourging produces in our lives. It produces a true and lasting brokenness and humility that is sorely missing in our lives in the church here in America, my own life included. The book of Hebrews writes it this way on how God chooses to conform us into His image.
Heb 12:1-6 Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls.Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin: and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;
Heb 12:6-11 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not? But if ye are without chastening, whereof all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness.
How is that for LOVE? AND GOD SCOURGES EVERY SON HE RECIEVES! I sure didn't feel received during that process, and I don't feel particularly received now in this process time in my life either. A deeper scourging had to come to make the word for 2008 real in my life. Not a word to teach or preach, but a word that would become mine and your very lifes existence. Beloved, God told me that the "message" and the "messenger" must be one.The word for 2008 was that we souldsee God's upholding hand but when? He warned us that difficult times would come, but He never mentioned scourging directly did He? Yet the word is still true and that in the midst of all these difficulties we are facing, God is chastening us, disciplining and scourging us as we are being conformed into His death and transfigured by His resurrection. Beloved, God is serious and we have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against the sin in our life. Matter of fact we yield to it faster than we overcome it. This is the great and deep work the Holy Spirit has come to do in 2008 and beyond. He has come to make us comformadable into His death, to fill up the sufferings of Christ so we can experience the Glorious power that comes from the power of His resurrection.
Who wants to be corrected? Who wants to be chastened? Who wants to be scourged? Preach that message on Sunday all you preachers? Yet whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives. What a different understanding of the love of God, beloved. A love that will annihilate and totally defeat the sin in our life and make us the finished product to God we were born to be. I don't know about you, but I can't change myself or make myself a "better' Christian. The more I tried, the more I failed. Yet, in God infinite mercy, He has a way to "finish' the work. He comes to us like in Malachi chapter 3 as a REFINING FIRE AND FULLER SOAP! Oh, please spare me brothers and sisters, all of us who are praying for God's fire to come. Do we really know what we are asking for? We say we want revival fire, but do we really want the Fire of God as He really is, a Consuming Fire? Let us read Malachi and see what we get when we ask God to send the FIRE DOWN!
Mal 3:1-5 Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire, behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. But who can abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap: and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer unto Jehovah offerings in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years. And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the sojourner from his right, and fear not me, saith Jehovah of hosts.
Not me, I can't endure it, and I am surely not standing. Matter of fact I am falling on my face and stumbling like a dead man. His searching love is exposing everything that is not light in me, and it is pretty ugly. The circumstances are harnessing me into His corral. He is not letting me have one once of my own strength by scourging me as He is receiving me. So what do I do now? Scream to get out? He will let me out if I want! This place of dealing with the Lord is conditional. He will let me jump out if I want, but I won't qualify as an over comer, nor can I truly be a disciple. I can be saved, but not one of His own ones. Am I going to murmur and complain and feel sorry for myself, which is often the true feelings of pride in our hearts that come to the surface? Are we going to live in the woe is me of self pity? This is where the fire gets red hot! RED HOT! It is here divine choices are made for eternity of what and where we want to be with the Lord. It is here so many have turned back like in John 6:66, read it sometime.
This is the place where I and you beloved must hear the word, "fear not I am with thee, I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Listen to those words. I say, "Father why have you forsaken me." He answers, FEAR NOT I AM WITH YOU! I can't see you! I can't feel you! It looks like you left me. It looks like you hate me. Then He says, I will strengthen you! When Lord, I ask? When you are empty of your own power." Great! That will be never cause I always do this. Then He says, " I will help you." When you can no longer help yourself. "I think I am getting it Lord." Then I will uphold you in my right hand of righteousness. The right hand represents His kingdom power." You mean even the lions and the youngs lions will lose their strength, but those who wait upon the Lord shall change, and renew their strength from God. Then they shall rise up on eagles wings and run and not grow weary and walk and not faint. This is what scourging does in my life Lord? Then it must be exactly what I need now! I surrender to this process!
Wow, I must be nuts! Who would ever want to walk this way? Job finally got it. His pronouncement has become a memorial in my heart so many times, and it is right now in February 2008, THOU YOU SLAY ME, STILL WILL I TRUST YOU! I sure can't figure out one thing right now. I don't think I ever have been so emptied, but it is so necessary for the Lord to truly be Lord of my life and yours. This word may not be for everyone in the Body of Christ, but it may be for you, if not I am surely writing it for myself. The Lord wants me to speak the truth in love and be real and transparent. I am a mess in this process, all the dross is coming to the top, but my God will come and take it out and leave the pure Gold He desires in my life to be a reflection of His glory.
Beloved for truly this is what Glory is all about. The Glory of the Lord is filling His house one more time, and it will be a reflection of His beauty shining forth from us as He fulfills Isaiah chapter 60. "Arise and shine, come forth from the prostration that your circumstances have kept you, Shine for the Glory of the Lord has risen upon thee." Soon I will get back to the daily blog and as we continue to see what LOVE really looks like, God that is. We will continue to study this aspect of love, a love that disciplines, corrects and scourges all He receives. For without this present word of the Lord, many of God's people will turn away and desert the one they should have trusted as the scriptures have warned us about.
Take heart beloved, and please pray for me as I will pray for you for the Lord to have his way to do His "finishing" work in our hearts and lives. Blessing to you always in the Lord!
A Word for 2008
I know many will begin to prophecy that 2008 is the year of new beginnings for the Body of Christ and it may be that and more for us. We all could surely use that new start and all the hope that it brings!
As for me, I am hearing a little different word rumbling through me from the Holy Spirit. He is birthing a “new word” in me saying 2008 will be the "Year of Upholding!" I am pondering what that statement means to me, and all of us in the Body of Christ. I asked the question isjust a personal word for me Lord? Or is this a word for all of us? The answer to that question is that I think it is a word for all those called to be His Bride!
Let us first look at what the word “upholding” means. The word means: to support or defend, as against opposition and criticism. To keep up or to keep from sinking. To take care of. To hold aloft, to lift up. To raise as in a banner. To maintain and affirm against opposition.
Beloved, 2008 is surely going to bring us new beginnings, but it will also bring us new challenges. Challenges we have never faced before as we draw closer to the return of Jesus Christ our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As I am writing this, the Holy Spirit is reminding me of a word He gave me back in the mid 80’s. “The only way you will be able to stand in the last days is by truly knowing My love for you in the depths of your being. Those who don’t truly know My love, or who are not anchored and rooted deep in that love will be shaken to their core, and many will even turn away from Me. They will turn away from me because they never knew my Love to be their all in all.”
None of us know with any certainty that which is going to come in this new year. We often have the highest hopes for the greatest blessings and the least amount of opposition and trouble. (Who would want to look for trouble anyways?)
The bible tells us in 2nd Timothy chapter 3:1, “That in the last days, perilous
times will come, times that will be hard to deal with and hard to bare.” Yes, beloved, even in the midst of new beginnings opposition, criticism will come and even warfare. Yet in the Books of Romans chapter 8 the following truths:
Rom 8:35 Who will come between us and the love of Christ? Will trouble, or pain, or cruel acts, or the need of food or of clothing, or danger, or the sword? Rom 8:36 As it is said in the holy Writings, Because of you we are put to death every day; we are like sheep ready for destruction. Rom 8:37 But we are able to overcome all these things and more through his love. Rom 8:38 For I am certain that not death, or life, or angels, or rulers, or things present, or things to come, or powers, Rom 8:39 Or things on high, or things under the earth, or anything which is made, will be able to come between us and the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is the tremendous truth that must be revealed in us in 2008!
"THE OVERCOMING LOVE OF GOD WIL UPHOLD US IN HIS RIGHT HAND!"
With every challenge that comes before us we can be assured that God will uphold us. We will be able to overcome all these things through His love and in His love.
1 Corinthians 13:8 says, “LOVE NEVER FAILS!” It is His greatest weapon of war, for it is who HE IS! Love itself! If God be for us, who can be against us?
Many believers today are still learning that God is a provider and still are seeking just His hand. This will not be enough of God to stand on in the days to come. We need to behold His face, His Glory, His manifest presence and become fully saturated in that love. This is the essence of Paul’s prayer in Ephesians chapter 3. This prayer is for all those God upholds (supports, defends us against oppositions and criticism.)
This is the only thing that can keep us from sinking. His love is the only thing that can take care of us, lift us up. His banner over us is LOVE!) Listen to this prayer of the Apostle Paul:
September 2007 - Word of the Lord
Dear precious readers, this month I have a word burning deep in my spirit to bring forth. It will not be a popular word for those content in their walk with God. It will be a word to ponder for those hungering for more of God and will allow the Lord to have complete authority in their lives.
Mat 10:34-39, “Do not have the thought that I have come to send peace on the earth; I came not to send peace but a sword. For I have come to put a man against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: And a man will be hated by those of his house. He who has more love for his father or mother than for me is not worthy of me; he who has more love for son or daughter than for me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and come after me is not worthy of me. He who has the desire to keep his life will have it taken from him, and he who gives up his life because of me will have it given back to him.”
He who loves his father and mother more than me is not worthy of me. Have you ever thought about that statement? Or this statement, “Do not think that I have come to send peace to the earth, I came not to send peace, but a sword, for I have come to put a man against his father, a daughter against a mother?” If that were not enough, “ a man will be hated by those of his own household!” These are pretty staggering statements from someone who says His name is LOVE!
Believe it or not Beloved, these statements have everything to do with worshiping the Father in Spirit and Truth. What exactly is worship in Spirit and Truth in the eyes of God? Is it a time of singing, dancing and rejoicing? Is it a service on Sunday before we hear the word of God? What does it really mean to worship the Lord in Spirit in Truth?
In the Gospel of John, Jesus speaks to a Samaritan woman about living water. She asks Jesus a question on where do we truly worship God? She said we Samaritans worship in the mountains and you Jews in Jerusalem. Which place is the correct place of worship? Jesus answers with a truth that we need to understand in the hour we are living in. Let us read it and then connect it with the scripture God is burning in my heart.”
John 4:23-24, “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Let us examine a couple of facts about this statement. One, “the hour comes and now is!” This statement Jesus uses to usher in a new revelation of about what true worship of God is. The religious leaders in Jerusalem had reduced worship to a type and form of service with rituals and requirements. The Samaritan leadership did the same thing accept on the mountains. Jesus is going to tell her that neither one of these are the true type of worship the Father is seeking.
He is going to explain the truth of what worship is. HE WILL TELL HER YOU MUST WORSHIP THE FATHER IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH! Notice, he never mentions anything about “forms or acts of worship.” It is the “form or acts of worship” that the present church even in 2007 considers what worship really is. We have “worship practice, worship leaders.” What we call worship for many churches is having a song service. The number of songs and the length of the service is determined by someone and that is worship. Many believers think putting a cd on in your car is worship and singing with it. These are acts of worship, but they are not worship in SPIRIT AND TRUTH!
The Father is seeking true and genuine worshipers? Beloved, the hour has come, and now is when the “TRUE WORSHIPERS SHALL.” This is another staggering statement, because He is now comparing what true worship is verses the worship both the Jews and Samaritans were giving the Lord at that time. It is this distinction and understanding that is needed today in the church to lift us up out of the "ritual worship" of our day.
In verse 21, Jesus says to here, “Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when neither in the mountains, or in Jerusalem, shall we worship the Father.” What could that possibly mean to her and to all of us in the day we live in?
Jesus tells her that worship in Spirit and Truth was never meant to be reduced to something we do only in a place we go to on Sunday's and Wednesdays . He is teaching her that acts of worship (offerings and sacrifices) at houses of worship (Jerusalem) or in places of worship (like mountains) are NOT what Worship in Spirit and Truth really is. Both Jews and Samaritans had acts of worship like singing or playing music, bringing offerings, reading the Torah which they considered worship. These acts of worship have a place and are pleasing to the Lord given from a loving heart, but these actions alone are not a LIFE OF WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH!
I want you to notice that HE twice uses the word the “hour is coming!” He does not say a season, a day, a month, but an hour. Why does He say an hour is coming? An hour always represents a specific period of time near an end of something. Jesus spoke to the religious leaders and said, “if you only had known the hour of your visitation.” Luke 19:44. In Mathew 24:42 Jesus says, “watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord does come.” Mark 14:37 Jesus speaks to his disciples, “could you not tarry one hour with me?”
Using the term “hour” is significant in meaning. It means at the “last point of time” God gives you. The “hour” is not to come upon us unawares. It is not to overtake us like a thief in the night. We are to be prepared for the hour that is to come. Jesus speaks to the woman about worship as an “hour” that is to come. An hour when a great change in understanding of what true worship will come, and now is!
This brings me to the point of the burning scripture God is giving me. When that hours comes for you, you must make a choice, willl God have all of you or some of you? If you choose to give Him all you are, it will bring a great change in your life. It will not bring peace to those around you who don't desire this commitment with Christ as well.
Jesus says, "I haven’t come to send peace but a sword." He tells us that "I have come to separate father from son, mother from daughter and a mans foes will be in His own household." He continues to teach, "if you love your mother, father, brother, sister more than me you can not be my disciples." You are not worthy. It is here we begin to understand what true worship in Spirit and Truth is to God.
True worship in Spirit and Truth has nothing to do with “acts of worship!” Our present worship services are “acts of worship,” but they may not be worship in Spirit and Truth. Worship in Spirit and Truth can be identified in the books of Roman chapter 12 verses 1-2. Listen carefully to these words:
Rom 12:1-2, "For this reason I make request to you, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you will give your bodies as a living offering, holy, pleasing to God, which is the worship it is right for you to give him. And let not your behavior be like that of this world, but be changed and made new in mind, so that by experience you may have knowledge of the good and pleasing and complete purpose of God."
Our bodies as a living sacrifice is pleasing and worship to God? What does that mean? It means that we “no longer live for ourselves" because we have been purchased with a price. It means we are “crucified with Christ," but nevertheless I live, but not I, but Christ lives in me. It means, “here I am Lord, coming to do your will.” Worship in Spirit and Truth speaks, “not my will, but yours be done.” Spirit and Truth is a life led and filled with the Spirit of God where you do not live for yourself.
Beloved, Worship in Spirit and Truth is not something “we do, or a place we need to go.” WE ARE THE PLACE OF WORSHIP. WE ARE THE RESTING PLACE OF THE LORD, A HOME FOR THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD in your body. “Know ye not, ye are the temple of the Holy Spirit." We don’t go to a house of worship, WE ARE A HOUSE OF WORSHIP! Worship in Spirit and Truth begins with a LIFE TOTALLY LIVED FOR THE WILL OF GOD!
That is why Jesus said, “I have not come to send peace, but a sword.” To many in your own family being totally sold out for the Lord brings problems, even fighting and rejection. Relatives will say “your to religious, or to spiritual.” Even other believers will say of you that you are “so spiritually minded you are no earthly good.” When the fact is to many believers are so "earthly minded they are no spiritually good." When you run after God with your whole heart and Christianity is not a list of do’s, don’ts you can begin to bring true worship of God.
When Christianity is not just going to religious meetings or doing stuff for God, but can becomes a LIFE JESUS CAN LIVE THROUGH YOU , you can bring true worship to God. When you understand that your life must be lived under complete obedience to the Holy Sprit you can bring true worship to God. True worship in Spirit and Truth is a life that does the will of God on earth as it is in heaven.
Jesus says in the Gospel of John chapter 15, “If you truly love me, you will obey my commands.” Yes, beloved obedience is the fruit of a life of WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH. In the book of Hebrews it speaks of Jesus fulfilling the scriptures, “here I am, coming to do your will. Sacrifice and offerings you have not desired, but a Body you have prepared for me. I delight to do thy will O God.” (Hebrews 10:5-10) This heart is what true and worship of God really is. It is a life lived totally for the pleasure of God the Father, and to 100 percent obey His will. This is a worshiping heart, and the one the Father is seeking.
The biggest obstacle of true worship here in America is that we are living the “American Dream.” We want the house, cars, boats, wife and two kids, go to church Sunday morning, and do a few good things. We even might take up a ministry in the church to try to serve. NONE OF THAT IS WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH. THEY ARE SACRIFICES AND OFFERINGS! They are "acts" of worship.
Most believers in America, do that every week yet they keep the rest of their life as their own. Most believers do what they want and when they want to. They are saved, but they are not disciples! The Holy Spirit isn’t able to fully direct their lives and lead them as He desires. Only when and if they will let the Holy Spirit direct and guide their lives completly can they be disciples.
Here in America, we say that Jesus is Lord, but is He? I say this with great humility? Is He truly the Lord of our lives that He can have complete control of it and use us as He wills? Or do we say as they did in Luke chapter 14, I can not come now, I have a wife, job and a home.” All these were the excuses the one’s that were invited to the feast made when the “hour” came and the call went out to come.” Jesus said when the servant returned from inviting the chosen ones, the master of the house was ANGRY! He swore not one of those invited shall taste me supper!
Why? They didn't come in the "hour" of their calling! Are you?Dear reader, are you living your life wholly for Christ? Is your body, all that you are, all that you have, and all you will ever be, given to God as a “living sacrifice?” The word of God tells us that this is your REASONABLE WORSHIP! Is your family, job, education, house more important that obeying all God has asked you to do? This is what will set a man against another in his own household. For many are “religious” right in their own homes. They may go to church, even be born again, but that is only as far as they have grown in their knowledge of God. They have kept their own lives fora themselves as Jesus warns us about in our scripture text.
As I close this teaching, there is an urgency in my heart that God is watching us as His call to "Come, all things are now ready" has gone forth. He is trying to get this nations attention and return back to their first love. He is trying to get the church out of her apathy and religious "forms" of worship to become a living, breathing and alive Body of Christ. A body full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit as a light in the midst of darkness. Are you answering God's call upon your life? Have you given up the entire right to your life under His Lordship? Please read our text scripture once again, and allow the Holy Spirit to show you are you just a believer, or a true WORSHIPER in SPIRIT AND TRUTH!
He who has more love for his father or mother than for me is not worthy of me; he who has more love for son or daughter than for me is not worthy of me. And he who does not take his cross and come after me is not worthy of me. He who has the desire to keep his life will have it taken from him, and he who gives up his life because of me will have it given back to him.”
Next month we will continue with this lesson!
August 2007 Word of the Lord
Worship in Spirit and Truth
The word to worship comes from two words, worth and ship. The word worth meaning, "The quality that renders something desirable, useful, or valuable as given to things and also in worship to God." The word ship means as in a "collective body" like fellows in a ship. Worship is the quality of love and adoration and worth we give to God as a collective body. When we worship the Lord, we declare His worth ship as in joining together as a husband and wife or as God did between David and Jonathan. Understanding the Lord's worth is of paramount importance in the hour we are living in. Many people come to God for what His hand can provide and worship Him for what they get from the Lord. His worth is now dependent upon what He gives. In our initial walk with the Lord, He does not mind meeting us in this way, but He knows we can never grow in intimacy if this is all His WORTH is based upon.
Today in most churches we praise Him for His benefits and that is correct to do, but we hardly worship Him. We may sing about worship, but the true worship of God must be in Spirit and Truth. However; not many understand His true worth to us beyond His provision. Even in our present day services, we sing about him, and maybe to him, but the intimacy of true and genuine worship is hardly found. Yes, you may feel His presence and even see His power, but the heart to heart encounter is rarely seen. Our present "worship" structure or order of service does not allow this type of intimacy.
Worship involves first understanding the worth of the one you are worshiping. In today's society we value things only for the length of there usefulness. Because we live in an instant society we no longer keep anything for a long time. Appliances are built to last only a few years and then they need to be replaced. In our replacement environment we can change churches whenever we want. We can change Pastors when we don't like them or what they have to say. We can change spouses without much effort. Changing jobs is now a common occurrence. We hardly take time to value anything anymore for what it really is.
I believe this happened in the church when we began to intellectualize God. We have taken God apart and put Him into pieces. Doctrines, healing, provision, prosperity, teaching, evangelism, etc. are substitued for God Himself. Our view of God is in His working and not His worth as a real Person who we can know. The Gospel of John tells us that eternal life is knowing the One True God and Jesus Christ that He sent. Yet in many churches the present teaching is about what we can do for God or what He can do for us. Like Santa Claus to a child, we look for God to "supply all my needs" verses a God in whom we can know intimately and personally.
God is a person with feelings, emotions just like us since we were made in His image. The great quest of life is not to see how much God will do for us, but how much we can know Him for the Love that He is. I am afraid since His worth to most Christians is based in Him doing or giving something for us, we can never value His worth as BEING GOD. When is the last time you just wanted to spend time in His presence not to get something, but to be with Him? We know little of what it really means to be one with Him.
Just look at our view of what a Christian marriages is today. We hardly know what is to become one flesh with our spouse which Paul writes is the real expression of Christ and His church. God made husbands and wives to become one, not just physically, but in purpose, plan and intimacy. The bible tells us Adam knew His wife. That doesn't mean in intercourse alone, but more in intimacy of hearts. In today's society the act of sex has replaced true and genuine intimacy. Our young people don't know the difference between sex and intimacy because they hardly see any examples in Christian marriages. Nor in the church do they find many who truly love the Lord intimately.
True intimacy in marriage is the sharing of the hearts and when those two hearts beat as one. This can only come when you truly understand your spouses worth in God. Intimacy with God only comes about by being one with Him and understanding of HIS ETERNAL WORTH! Jesus prayed for us to be made one in John chapter 17. Jesus desires this intimacy with us as compared to a husband with a wife, and He gave Himself completely to be our Husband and we to be His Bride.
In a Godly marriage, the husband loves the wife as Christ loves the church and gave himself for it, and the wife willingly submits to the husband in that love. It is a love-bond and not a work-bond relationship. Marriages today are based more in work-bond relationships than love-bonds. We put our money together, raise our children and do things together, but we never become one in heart. This is why the divorce rate is over 50% amongst Christians.
Beloved love-bonds can NEVER BREAK and work-bonds can NEVER LAST! Most of what we call unity in the Body of Christ is based in work-bond relationships and not love-bonds. Love-bonds are created when you lay your life down for the other and the other for you. This is what a true covenant love is! You give up your life for the other. This takes a great work of the Holy Spirit because you can never lay your life down for what you don't value or understand their worth in God.
The Holy Spirit taught me that until I love my wife and help her to be what God created her to be we could never be one. He told me that God gave me my wife for His needs first and not mine. I had to then seek Him to see her worth, value and purpose in God and then do all He placed in me to help her become that. My needs were never mentioned to me by God as a reason to be a husband. I had to learn to seek God diligently to see her as He does and to know what her real needs are from His view point. In the past I only gave her what I thought she needed and it usually failed. God knows her better than I, and if I truly love her I will seek Him to know her as He does, then I am rightly aligned with God to love her as Christ loves the church. It was in this seeking, I began to understand His great love for me and found someone worthy of really knowing for who He is. The more I came just for Him, the more I became a Godly husband from God's perspective (not that I have arrived, I am still learning each day)
In my early years of marriage I saw my wife as "my" helpmate. That meant do everything for me and meet my needs. How wrong I was in thinking. When I learned to give up my life for her to meet God's needs she was enabled to meet everyone of mine as He created her. The Lord became our focus and to love each other as He loved us. This has enabled us to grow more in love for over 27 years. It has not been perfect and we both have made mistakes, but understanding each others WORTH in God helped us understand His worth to us and ours to one another.
This is beginning of what it means to Worship Him in Spirit and Truth. It is WORTH SHIP for who HE IS and not just for what He has done! Many believers think they worship in Spirit and Truth by playing a Christian CD or go to a worship service. Worship IS NOT AN ACT FIRST, it is a HEART TO HEART ENCOUNTER! Our present day services don't make or allow time for us to do this. We often have a worship service instead of true and genuine worship with the Lord. We choose a number of songs that prepare us to hear the message that we think will please God. Just think about that for a moment. How would you feel if someone did that to you while you were in their midst? They would sing about what you did for 3 songs, then 3 more about loving you, and then they turn to the announcements, and preach a message as if you weren't there anymore. Would that really speak of your WORTH? No, and it does not for the Lord who is in our midst either.
Our heart must change concerning the Lord's WORTH. In Revelations chapter 2 He warns the church of deserting Him as their first love. He gives a warning that He will come and remove the candlestick from their midst. This is the symbol of His presence with us. If we don't begin to fall truly in love with Him as our first love, we won't ever know His worth and His presence will lift. It already has lifted in many churches today because they refuse to love Him first. We can't love evangelism first, ministry or any other thing first. He alone must be our first love and this must be our first work in which everything else will flow.
Beloved reader, please pray that the Lord would teach you of His worth for who He is. That we would understand each others worth as He has made us to be. For only in this can we find the unity of the Holy Spirit. Let your prayer be: Dear Lord, help me to love and know you beyond my human reason. Help me to love you for who you really are and understand your true worth. Let me love my brothers and sisters in this same way. God will surely bring you into the depth of His heart.
Ministry Links
Flame of Fire Ministries
2008 National Conference
Tucson Regional House of Prayer
Links
Northern Colorado Regional House of Prayer
Bambous Assembly of God - Mauritius
International Ministry Partners
