Change Your Position

Praise Report and Prophetic Insights
By Ron Wood

I want to thank all of you who prayed for us while I ministered in
Eureka Springs, AR. The Lord particularly blessed the meeting with His
anointing. People were delivered from shame, laughing and crying at the
same time while I spoke.

Storming Strongholds
Warfare there has been intense. Many pastors have suffered illness or
divorce. The city is a center for new age paraphernalia and new age
thought. The common mind-set is “many paths to God.” One recent mayor
was a warlock. Yet the youth are ripe for harvest and open to the
gospel. Pray for Pastor Rudy Sanchez as he reaches out to the next
generation in school assemblies and finds future leaders to train. We
will go back there in October to minister again. More intercessors are
now targeting Carroll County and much prayer is focused on that region.
I join with the US Strategic Prayer Network in their work (in Arkansas,
led by Dr. Jay Morse) in praying for that state’s transformation.

Pray for us as we go to South Carolina this next weekend to an area
beset by racism, misguided notions of male headship, and religious
mistrust. We will minister at Larry Hutto’s church, Living Waters
Fellowship, in Barnwell, S.C. Join us on Sunday morning if you can.

Underground River
In Eureka Springs, AR, prophetically, we opened the door for God’s
apostolic government to come in and replace the false spiritual rule of
witchcraft. The occult or witchcraft, whether manifested in secular new
age forms or in religious forms as manipulation, domination,
intimidation, legalism, or control, is simply an illegitimate sphere of
authority attempting to rule an area or a people in the absence of
God’s appointed and anointed government through apostles, prophets, and
elders. (Satan loves a power vacuum.)

I was taken to an auditorium in Eureka Springs where many years ago
Smith Wigglesworth preached and healed the sick. Rudy took me down
below street level, to a door that opens to a rock wall. There, you
could hear the sound of an underground river that flows beneath the
auditorium. I was captured by the sound of the river and the image of
God’s underground river of power, soon to erupt on the surface again!
It was also significant to me that representatives of the John G.
Lake healing ministry, Wayne and Sandy Warmack, were in the meetings.
John Lake was a true apostle, with signs and wonders and spiritual sons
and church plantings, even before we knew how to define such a
ministry.

In the last three weeks, people have told me they have had dreams in
which they saw me and Lana on a stage or in front of a platform with
piles of crutches and wheelchairs from miracles of God’s merciful
healings. Make it so, Lord Jesus!

Jesus is a Listening Bridegroom
The past Sunday, My wife missed Sunday celebration due to an injured
ankle. The senior pastor’s wife was home ill with cancer and weak from
treatment. The guest speaker’s wife was hospitalized with a frightening
and mysterious seizure. God showed me that He is a Husband who feels
the pain of His Bride, and wants her well and strong and beautiful in
grace. The last few weeks, I have been sensing that the Lord is paying
attention to what His body is feeling. This is like the Israelites in
Egypt for 400 years, but the time came when God heard their cry for
deliverance. The Head is noticing that the Body is hurting. What do I
mean by that? There is much frustration in the Body of Christ. Some of
it is due to immaturity or rebellion or ignorance we bring on
ourselves. But most of it is due to the 5-Fold Leadership failing to
perform their assigned task. What is that task? “Equip the saints for
the work of the ministry.” What is the ministry? It is what Jesus
began to do and teach.

Change Your Position
Sunday morning, I sat on a pew and wrote out the words, “Change Your
Position,” while I was waiting to hear missionary church-planter Joe
DiSarno from Cebu, Philippines, speak to us. He came forward and
preached from Genesis 12 and told the story of how God had Abraham
re-locate in order to fulfill his purpose. God wants us to reposition
ourselves in order to be re-provisioned. To be re-provisioned is to
“see ahead by God’s vision” what He has already provided for us to do
the work.

Our position first is in Christ, second is in relationships here on
earth, and third is geographical. The first position is the most
important position. When you “posit something” you state what you
believe to be true. It answers the question, “Where do you stand on
that?” Our most critical stand is by faith based on Jesus’ grace as
revealed in the cross. We are first and foremost, sons of God by faith
in Jesus! The Father has adopted us! I recall recently that the first
revelation God gave to me of Himself to me as a child was that He was
my father! How awesome that self-disclosure of God was to me. The
Spirit of Adoption has been bearing witness to me of how precious that
first revelation was and still is!

God has distributed grace to you already, and we all should be grateful
and not murmur. In the forward to Gene Edward’s classic, “The Prisoner
in the Third Cell,” he says there is a means of “lifting your stature
to a place above that place where formerly you stood.” It involves
receiving and then giving grace. That grace came freely and should be
given away freely also. Law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus. The Law has no mercy. It shows us our need of grace. What is
grace like? Look at Jesus! Jesus loves to heal people. Jesus loves to
forgive sins. Jesus loves to show the Father’s mercy. Jesus loves to
gather lost sheep. Jesus loves to antagonize Pharisees and bless
sinners who have lost their way. Jesus loves for His kingdom to come in
power and truth in the midst of a human community being transformed by
grace!

Giving Away the Ministry
About nine months ago, I had a flash of insight in which I pictured in
my minds eye the Lord Jesus shaking His head in dismay and saying, “”My
Five-Fold Leaders have robbed My people of the ministry.” I felt his
heart ache over this issue. This is no small matter. And although it is
a major course-correction for preachers and pastors, it must occur now.
I say to you by the Spirit, the Lord will not tolerate this situation
any longer. The Lord has by-passed his professional clergy in times
gone by, and he won’t hesitate to do it again. Either we start giving
away the ministry, or the ministry we have will start to diminish.
Either we give up control over our “franchise” of the gifts of God, or
we will be set aside as covetous rulers who hoarded the blessings.

Jesus wants everyone to reproduce their ministry and distribute their
gifts of grace, not use them to elevate themselves or protect their
turf. The issue of releasing and blessing is very important. Many
people have been reduced to being spectators and donors rather than
fellow-laborers. I have heard the Lord say, “Everyone must go back to
school.” Get trained, get equipped, so you can be qualified to be
effective and fruitful for the Lord. If where you presently are they
are not equipping you, then change your position. Life is too short to
sit where you are and die.

--------------------------------------

Ron Wood
ron@touchedbygrace.org

Touched By Grace Ministries
P.O. Box 12749
Wilmington, NC 28405

Gold and Glory

I am passing along to you the following account from Chuck Pierce. It
details a supernatural manifestation of God’s presence among
worshipping, penitent people. I say “penitent,” because only when we
get low and humble ourselves, does God disclose his glory.

I was in a similar supernatural setting among intercessors seeking
God’s intervention in our nation’s election in Waco, Texas, in November
2004. We prostrated ourselves before God to acknowledge his holy
presence. A very strong fragrance of incense suddenly manifested in the
front of the church for about ten minutes. The Lord gave me Rev. 8:3-5
to explain the phenomenon. We had the assurance the election would go
the way God desired.

I was speaking at a prophetic meeting in Arkansas just recently when
the presence of God became so thick it felt like a river’s current
running around my legs. People were obviously responding to God’s
manifest presence with simultaneous laughter and tears. I began to see
that the river of God’s glory, his awesome signs and wonders witnessed
in bygone eras, a river that has been running underground unseen, is
about to erupt again to the surface!

The golden rain which appeared in the Chicago church was a sign. What
does it mean? For one thing, it means that Jesus is worthy of glory,
and in an earthly way, of riches (Rev. 5: 12). God wants money to be
laid at Jesus’ feet. Why? Does God need it? No, he can make more… but
we need to give it as an act of worship and we need to be free of
covetousness or greed.

Gold is precious to men but God has so much of it that heaven’s streets
are paved with it. Gold represents the honor due King Jesus, the
majesty and excellence of his holy and joyous realm. The gold also
symbolizes the end-time transfer of wealth which is being stored up for
the righteous in these last days. This prophetic plunder from the
enemy’s camp is the provision for the righteous to inherit the earth
and to partner with God’s holy prophets and strategic apostles, in
order for the Great Commission to be fulfilled in our day. I believe
the gold is also a sign of a fresh release of heaven’s greatest
treasure, the knowledge of the Lord as revealed in the face of Jesus
Christ, with his gifts of power, revelation, and wisdom.

Gold symbolizes glory. 1 Peter 1:7 says gold is purified by fire and as
such is a symbol of true faith that has stood the test. There are
“degrees of glory” awaiting God’s saints who persevere, according to 1
Peter 4:13. Suffering precedes glory, if we keep the faith of God in a
pure heart. Suffering while abiding in settings of mutual respect for
others is a prerequisite to greater glory being revealed among us (1
Peter 5:1). What degree of glory are you expecting?

Supernatural signs are manifestations of divine grace. They are tokens
of an invisible kingdom becoming momentarily visible. They reveal God
at work as he invades our time-space world to confirm that heaven is
drawing near and his kingdom is at hand. Signs, although spectacular,
do not replace the need for pursuing righteousness, or faithfully
witnessing, or obeying the word of God. They do testify to God’s
kingdom, power, and glory being near and they do help generate faith
and expectancy in God’s people. We need signs and wonders to startle
people from their slumber and to alert us to pay attention to his word.

Signs, miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit are like credentials
(Hebrews 2:4) that attest to the authenticity of the person being sent
by God. The credentials being carried by prophets today have been
earned keeping the faith while enduring suffering. They are shields of
gold worn on weathered coats. More than titles that impress mere
people, these badges of authority are recognized by angels (both holy
and unholy) and these agents of heaven’s court are being backed up by
heaven’s resources.

WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OPEN AND GLORY FALLS IN CHICAGO

The Church is in an incredible season of change. I believe we are all
sensing those changes in us and around us. In one of our prayer
meetings at Glory of Zion, at the beginning of December, I saw "great
atmospheric changes in the heavens that would affect the earth realm."
We are hearing about those changes in the natural as well as the
spiritual.

I actually prophesied that over the next four months (beginning in
December) there would be cataclysmic shifts in the heavens and we must
be prepared to shift in the earth realm. I then specifically directed
this word toward California. I traveled to California and declared the
atmosphere would change and they would have unusual weather patterns.

Actually, the tsunami that swept through Southeast Asia occurred during
the first month of this four month time frame. Many people do not
relate what happened on the earth to what was going on in heaven. The
heavens are changing.

I thought an article by Robert Roy Britt on February 18, 2005,
"Brightest Galactic Flash Ever Detected Hits Earth," was very
interesting:

"A huge explosion halfway across the galaxy packed so much power it
briefly altered Earth's upper atmosphere in December, astronomers said
. . .

"The commotion was caused by a special variety of neutron star known as
a magnetar. These fast-spinning, compact stellar corpses -- no larger
than a big city -- create intense magnetic fields that trigger
explosions . . .The blast was 100 times more powerful than any other
similar eruption witnessed . . . No known eruption beyond our solar
system has ever appeared as bright upon arrival. The blast originated
about 50,000 light-years away and was detected Dec. 27 . . .

"Gamma rays are the highest form of radiation on the electromagnetic
spectrum, which includes X-rays, visible light and radio waves too . .
. The Sun is a middle-aged star about 8 light-minutes from us. It's
tantrums, though cosmically pitiful compared to the magnetar explosion,
routinely squish Earth's protective magnetic field and alter our
atmosphere, lighting up the night sky with colorful lights called
aurora . . .

"A similar [magnetar] blast within 10 light-years of Earth 'would
destroy the ozone layer,' according to a CFA statement, 'causing abrupt
climate change and mass extinctions due to increased radiation.'"

(www.space.com/scienceastronomy/
bright_flash_050218.html)

This is a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.

Scientifically, there is no clear correlation between the tsunami and
galactic flash hitting the earth. However, it's important to understand
that the heavens and earth are changing, and the atmosphere of earth is
changing rapidly in the natural. As we intensify our seeking of the
Lord, not only will passion increase, but we will also understand that
the heavenlies are coming closer and invading the earth. We are
entering a supernatural dimension.

ONCE HEAVEN HAS TOUCHED OUR LIVES

A very interesting supernatural phenomenon happened while I was
ministering with Robert Stearns this past weekend in Bolingbrook,
Illinois. Robert is a well-known worship leader and prophetic minister
in the Body of Christ. (Many of you know Robert was one of the leaders
who called the Body of Christ to pray for the peace of Jerusalem last
October. This connected over 70,000 churches.) He, JoAnn McFatter, and
I were ministering in a conference near Chicago called "Open the
Gates." Last year I knew God was saying that Chicago was one of the
cities He was focused on in our nation.

I ministered last Thursday night on the changes that are coming into
the earth. I spoke from John 2 on the changing of the water to wine at
Cana and how this began the Lord's ministry of miracles, the disciples
believing in a new way, and glory manifesting in the earth realm for
individuals to see.

I then went to John 5. This is where Jesus came again to Cana. The word
says:

"Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee where He made the water into wine.
A certain nobleman approached Him there asking Him to heal his son, who
was in Capernaum."

I began to declare that God was coming AGAIN to places and people He
had visited before to fulfill purposes that had never been fully
fulfilled. This was Jesus' second sign in the earth realm. I actually
believe that once the heavens have penetrated our lives and the
atmosphere of the territories of the earth, that they are more easily
penetrated AGAIN.

"THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OPENED AND GOLD BEGAN TO SNOW DOWN UPON US"

The next morning I spoke on the times and seasons and how sound was
invading the earth. That afternoon the conference concentrated on the
watchman anointing in relationship to Israel. On Friday night Robert
and the team from Eagles Wings began to lead worship. If you have never
been in a meeting with this group, then you have missed an incredible
dimension of corporate worship. I would encourage you to be a part of
their future gatherings. Robert Stearns can guide a group into the
heavenlies in a very peculiar way. His incredible ability to produce
songs on the piano and lead a team in corporate ascension is amazing.
JoAnn McFatter can sing and express what heaven looks like and the
activity that is occurring.

While we were worshiping, there was an awesome presence of God, and
Robert invited people to come to the altar to repent (or change their
minds). As people began to come forward, the atmosphere electrified in
the venue, Living Water Community Church, pastored by Ken Hansen. JoAnn
began to sing from Psalm 133 about the dew of heaven coming down in the
midst of unity. I believe unity occurs when we are in an environment
where we are one with the Lord. Unity is not all of us simply getting
together. Nor is unity all leaders thinking the same way. Unity occurs
when God ordains a time frame to meet with Him and we are all in one
accord.

I do not say this lightly: THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN OPENED AND GOLD BEGAN
TO SNOW DOWN UPON US. The person behind me began to yell, "There is
gold falling from heaven!" I have been in places where gold was
manifested -- it was in teeth or on people's hands and clothes. This
was different! This was as if we were in a gold snowstorm. The gold had
a wet type of feeling but did not seem to rest on the people. Rather,
it flooded and filled the atmosphere. The gold was penetrable instead
of just physical. This went on for 20 minutes. Then the atmosphere
became fully clear.

The presence of God was so strong that you were either expressing
yourself in weeping or in awe -- on your face, on your knees, or some
posture of reverence. However you were expressing yourself, the awe of
God was being heard in the people, the instruments, and the worship
leading. The Glory of God had entered in from the heavenly window and
was pouring like the dew of Hermon down upon us. The people truly
entered into the joy of God coming again.

THIS IS THE YEAR OF "SAMEKH"

This is a year of the open window of heaven. As I have written, this is
a year of the HEI of God. The Hebrew letter HEI looks like a window.
When studying this word, both wind and sound blow from heaven through
the window into the earth realm to bring change. Declare that you are
willing to change and watch your atmosphere begin to be filled with
God's presence. God does not produce signs and wonders from heaven as
ends in themselves. They are released to bring faith to His people and
those around them -- whether believers or unbelievers.

This is the year of the SAMEKH of God, or things coming full circle.
This is the year to break old cycles. Ask the Lord to come again and
break you out of old cycles. Ask Him to allow you to experience His
Glory so your faith will explode. Come, Lord Jesus! May you enter into
the fullness of this year of Samekh Hei!

Chuck D. Pierce
www.glory-of-zion.org