Prophecy

Prophets, Seers, and Humility

2006-12-24T16:52:00.000-05:00

PROPHETS AND SEERS
By John Paul Jackson

with Introductory Comments
By Ron Wood

John Paul Jackson is a blessing to me and to the Body of Christ. I’ve enjoyed being around him in several venues. We had the privilege of hosting his ministry in a conference when I was leading a church in NW Arkansas. I appreciate John Paul’s teaching and mature perspective on the prophetic ministry. I consider him to be a true prophet of God.

Prophets have a peculiar and vital function in the Body of Christ. Prophets, along with the primary building gift of apostles, form an important part of the foundation of the Church. Some prophets focus on divine revelations. These prophets build up individuals with words of encouragement.

Others are what I call Building Prophets. They work alongside apostles or church planters and thus team up in strategic warfare and in building up the church. Both kinds of prophets bear a distinct testimony of Jesus Christ. They impart His Spirit in a wonderful and unique way to the saints.

John Paul Jackson has given a lot of thought to distinctions in the operation of prophetic gifts. For years, I’ve recognized that it is one thing to have a divine revelation and something totally different to have utterance to speak it forth. By utterance, I mean the grace or anointing to verbally speak a revelation with God’s authority.

So in prophetic ministry, there is a valid difference between seeing it and saying it.

You might see a word, but if you try to say it, it may fall flat on the floor! Is it time? Is it the right place? Are you the right vessel? Seers seem to often wait for someone to inquire about a word, whereas prophets may have unction from on high to declare it proactively. Yet presumption may make us assume that we can release it simply because we have discerned it.

John Paul analyzes this distinction very well in this excellent short study on seers and prophets, and the insightful question that follows it on humility.

This particular article addresses one aspect of revelatory gifting, that is, "words of knowledge." This grace-gift from the Holy Spirit enables a believer to know information or details about someone that could only be revealed by God. It is a small but valuable gracelet from Holy Spirit.

For example, when Jesus met the woman at the well (John 4), He knew by this gift operating that she had been married five times. This divine knowledge about her life uncovered her sin. Yet Jesus spoke the truth to her without condemning her. He ministered in such a way that it broke down her resistance and resulted in the salvation of her village. This is an example of a grace-gift functioning in a non-religious setting in order to display God’s great mercy.

When the gift of prophecy gets outside the church and into the streets, sinners won’t stand a chance! Resistance will be futile. God’s truth ministered in deep love and humble wisdom will uncover the stumbling blocks that hinder their repentance and thus will help bring many souls to faith in Christ.

I believe the day will come when ordinary believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit and living in union with Jesus will manifest the word of knowledge in remarkable ways. It will be common for sin to be uncovered, not by ministers, but by disciples. In fact, the day will come when we will think that prophets who impress us with their words of knowledge today were mere children in the faith!

I am asking for this little gift to operate more often in my own life- the snippets of divine information that enables me to show people that God knows the details of their lives and truly cares for them. Twice, the Lord has given me peoples’ names! Once, it was to witness to a waitress. Another time, it was to encourage me in a time overseas when I felt like I wasn’t hearing anything from God in my meetings. But this little gift is needed more. Along with sharing the gospel in a natural and gracious way, it can be a very powerful supernatural evangelistic tool as we saw in the example of Jesus talking with this discouraged woman about her life.

Why doesn’t the Lord give more words of knowledge to more believers today? I believe two reasons hinder this. One is disbelief. We don’t expect the Lord to help us and we doubt it when He does. The second is pride. We get can quickly inflated in our ego when God shows us something. As soon as we start getting revelation, we tend to get an exalted opinion of ourselves. We start to feel entitled to a title, and we think just because we heard some secret revelation from God, we must be in the office of a prophet. Wrong! Humility is thus a vital key to advancement in this powerful ministry.

Here are John Paul Jackson’s comments on revelatory gifting….

PROPHETS AND SEERS
By John Paul Jackson

Years ago, I considered anyone who had a revelatory gift to be a "prophet". I no longer believe this. Over the years, I have come into contact with many revelatory styles. I define these styles by the manner in which someone ministers, combined with their own God-given personalities.

During my 20-year tenure, I have observed many gifted revelatory people. I was delighted to discover how radically different they are from one another. Their differences are more than just a broad array of personalities or the way revelation is delivered. How a person receives revelation from God and the type of revelation they receive may vary from person to person.

This makes for quite a potpourri of visual differences when watching how someone ministers or delivers a word from the Lord.

After reflecting on these various types and styles, I have come to understand that there are unique personalities as well as variations in the respective gifts of prophets and seers. Notice that I have not made a value statement, making one gift more valuable than another. Rather, they are two of many expressions within the revelatory arena.

Differences between prophets and seers seem to be more clearly distinguished in the Old Testament. However, the lack of distinction in the New Testament does not necessarily indicate they are the same. Instead, it may simply indicate the writers did not distinguish between prophets and seers, which may reflect a difference between the Hebrew and Greek mind-sets. The Greek language does not seem to recognize a difference between the two titles.

Since the Early Church, many believers in the West have failed to make a distinction between prophets and seers. At some point, the Church also stopped recognizing the title of a seer. In a similar way, they diminished the role of a prophet and failed to note the distinction between prophets and pastors, or even prophets and evangelists. Today, however, these perceptions are rapidly changing in many places around the world.

A STARTING POINT
As a starting point, I would like to suggest using the following three approaches. These steps will lay a biblical foundation for understanding these gifts. First, we need to approach the differences between prophets and seers through translating the original Hebrew words. Second, we need to approach the differences between prophets and seers by looking at the manner in which the titles are used. Third, we need to approach the differences between prophets and seers by looking at those who were given the titles and by trying to ascertain, whether or not their titles indicated differences in their respective functions.

WORD ORIGINS
Perhaps we should begin by looking at some of the Hebrew words translated in Scripture as "prophet" and "seer." The Strong's Concordance translates these as follows:
"SEER" Hebrew (7200, 7203, 2374, 2372)
-- Hebrew 7200: ra'ah, raw-aw'; to see, look, view; to realize, know, consider; to be selected; to become visible, appear, show oneself; to be seen; to cause to see, show; to be shown; to look at each other, meet with; a general word for visual perception.
-- Hebrew 7203: ro'eh, ro-eh'; a seer; vision.
-- Hebrew 2374: Chozeh, kho-zeh'; seer, one who receives a communication from God, with a possible focus that the message had a visual component; agreement.
-- Hebrew 2372: Chazah, khaw-zaw'; to see, to look, observe, gaze, by extension: to choose (one thing or another); to have visions, to prophesy.

"PROPHET" Hebrew (5030, 5012, 5197)
-- Hebrew 5030: nabiy', naw-bee'; a prophet (true or false).
-- Hebrew 5012: naba', naw-baw'; to prophesy, speak as a prophet; prophesy has its focus on encouraging or restoring covenant faithfulness, the telling of future events encourages obedience or warns against disobedience.
-- Hebrew 5197: nataph, naw-taf'; to pour down; gently fall, drip; to (drip words) preach, prophesy.

WORD USAGE
We also need to look at how the words are used. Many use the terms "seer" and "prophet" interchangeably. Furthermore, some believe that seers have not existed since the time of the Prophet Samuel (1150 B.C. - 1010 B.C.). They quote 1 Samuel 9:9: "(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: 'Come, let us go to the seer' for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer)".

However, this is a shortsighted point of view and creates a dilemma: Why does Scripture continue to make a distinction between prophets and seers after the era of Samuel?
I believe that seers and prophets continue to "co-exist" throughout Scripture. Both Gad, the seer, and Nathan, the prophet, served in King David's court (2 Samuel 24:4; 1 Chronicles 29:29). Asaph, the seer, and Isaiah, the prophet, were also contemporaries during King Hezekiah's reign (2 Chronicles 29:30; 2 Kings 20:1).

Therefore, I believe that 1 Samuel 9:9 implies that Samuel moved from functioning as a seer to functioning as a prophet. Or, more likely that Samuel fulfilled both the functions of a seer and a prophet!

In addition, there seems to be a difference even between those who functioned as "seers". In 1 Chronicles 29:29, the word "seer" is used twice, but it is not the same Hebrew word. "Now the acts of Kind David, first and last, indeed they are written in the book of Samuel the seer (7200), in the book of Nathan the prophet (5030), and in the book of Gad the seer (2374)" (1 Chronicles 29:29). Perhaps this indicates a difference in how Samuel and Gad received revelation from God.

Samuel had a wide variety of revelatory experiences, perhaps broader than Gad's. Samuel was gifted in visions, knowings, and dreams. He transcended time and geographic locality to watch events that were occurring simultaneously outside of his immediate geographic location. He knew who was coming to his door before the person arrived. He even predicted weather patterns (1 Samuel 12:17).

In contrast, Gad's revelatory gift was not as well documented. It is possible that he walked in the same level of prophetic gifting as Samuel, but there is no record of this. Scripture indicates that he carried the Lord's rebuke to David for numbering Israel (2 Samuel 24:11-13). He also helped arrange Levitical music (2 Chronicles 9:25), and apparently wrote a history book about David's reign (1 Chronicles 29:29).

Did people go to a seer more than to a prophet? It seemed to be common practice for the people of Israel to look to the seers for direction (1 Samuel 9:6-9). It was also common for them to bring the seer an offering for his livelihood (1 Samuel 9:7). There are also several instances where people went to the prophet for wisdom and direction from God.

In conclusion, prophets and seers still function today, as they did in biblical times. In fact we are seeing a worldwide renaissance in these types of revelatory gifts. Next month, I will offer deeper insights on these dynamic, re-emerging, and mysterious revelatory gifts.

To learn more about prophets and seers, please see John Paul Jackson's 6-tape series, PROPHETIC REFORMATION. You can order it online at http://www.streamsministries.com. Or, by calling our office toll-free (U.S. and Canada): 1-888-441-8080.
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13. QUESTIONS FOR JOHN PAUL JACKSON

QUESTION: Is humility and meekness the same thing?

JOHN PAUL JACKSON: Humility and meekness go hand in hand. Meekness is often overlooked because our focus is more often on trying to be humble. Meekness involves how you respond to others when they think that you are wrong. Meekness is how you lead others when they are totally dependent on you. But the best example of meekness is giving up the right to rule and the right to be right. Daily, the Lord is taking me to a place where I am learning that I don't have a right to be right. This is an attribute that I hope to see the Church grow in. The secret to growing in meekness involves giving up your need to be right. We don't have to be right. We do have to be broken.

QUESTION: I have been facing difficult trials lately. My friends have told me to be encouraged these difficulties are a good sign. Can you explain this to me?

JOHN PAUL JACKSON: Your friends are telling you the truth. This principle is one that is discussed in The Art of Hearing God classes. The depth of your battle is proportionate to the coming anointing you will receive from God. Anointing is basically spiritual influence in a natural world. Therefore, the battle we face actually predicts the coming influence we will walk in after the battle has concluded. What we tend to focus on, however, is the difficulty of the battle. The battle that we overcome creates stronger character that allows us to become better leaders. Therefore, if you don't quit, you win.

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Ron Wood resides in Springdale, Arkansas, is the founder of Touched by Grace Inc. He and his wife, Lana, are parents and grandparents. You may contact him at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

Father's War

2006-08-16T13:15:00.000-04:00

Father’s War
by Ron Wood

Many great dramas have been written or filmed that featured a father standing strong to defend his children. A man unwilling to fight for his family is a phony father and a hollow man.

In the Old Testament, Abraham was a man who displayed traits of good fatherhood long before he actually became a father. When his nephew Lot along with many women and children were captured and carried off, Abraham put together a band of brothers from within his household to rescue them. He had 318 trained men who were ready to follow him into battle. (Genesis 14:13-20)

What made these ordinary workers and ranch hands willing to follow their master on a perilous pursuit? To these men, Abraham was a patriarch. He had treated his servants like sons.

Fatherhood is far more than the act of siring offspring. When God first called Abram, he and Sara were childless. Yet the character of a father, not the act of having fathered children, was what God was looking for. This was the kind of man with whom God could cut a covenant. Why? Because- Abraham’s ways were compatible with God’s ways as a father.

The spirit of fatherhood in Abraham was like a covering that protected those shielded by it. The spirit of fatherhood creates extended family– it adopts. It causes a man to invest resources in those joined to him, to nurture and equip those dependent on him, to save his family or friends from their enemies.

Abraham’s faith was contagious. This motley non-military team that he assembled like a posse believed the impossible, that they could win the battle and rescue their loved ones. True fatherhood creates a culture of faith that has a can-do attitude. Fatherhood is a bulwark against eroded values in a decaying culture. Real fatherhood, the kind that comes from knowing God, faces down fear, refuses to run, and fights for what is right. Fatherhood empowers. A mother may carry a baby for nine months and nurse it for a year, but a father also carries his children… in his heart, forever.

Our God is an eternal Father. He is not like a father... he is a father! The Bible says he is the father of our spirits and, like a good father, he corrects us so we can be partakers of his nature and learn his ways. Our Savior revealed God to us in a new way… our "Father in heaven!"

True fatherhood is displayed in actions, not intentions. Fathers earn respect by their deeds and thus become worthy of honor. It is not a title or an empty office, but a job description, what a man does daily. The apostle Paul said, "You have lots of teachers but few fathers." This is still true. The prophet Malachi quoted the Lord, saying, "If I am a father, where is my honor?" and went on to discuss financial honor through the practice of paying tithes and giving offerings.

God is a good, honorable father. He is not an abusive father. He is not an absent father. He is not a feminized father. God the Father did not come from a dysfunctional family that left him emotionally frozen and distant from his children. He is holy, happy, merciful, reliable, and just. God speaks and keeps his word. He loves us, stays involved in our lives, and disciplines us for our own good. He trains us in right living. He causes us to reap what we sow, yet forgives us when we repent. His kids never go lacking. And God gets angry at his children’s enemies.

God goes to war against any enemy who attempts to rob his children of their inheritance. Jesus is The Prince of Peace, but he can be violent. He doesn’t promote peace at any price. Lasting peace comes when God’s rule impacts our human situation. That happens as people choose to follow God’s word and invite Christ’s kingdom to be present. But not everyone is willing or obedient, are they? Because of the reality of evil and the existence of the devil, all people must be confronted with the kingdom of Christ, the Good News, and the devil’s deceit and oppression must be defeated. That ends all revolt and robbery. To this end, our Father is willing to fight.

The Bible is filled with stories of good people forced to fight. Job fought using prayer. He made intercession for his children regularly, fearing they might have sinned. God said concerning Job that he was a perfect man. David was a solitary psalmist and a gentle shepherd, but he was ready to fight. He protected his family’s sheep by killing the lion and bear, thus preparing himself for overcoming Goliath. Nehemiah the builder called for his people to fight for their families as they returned to the promised land and rebuilt the wall around Jerusalem. God honors men who take a stand against their foes for the welfare of their family.

Whether it is a drug lord invading a peaceful neighborhood, or a political leader with no moral values, or a bureaucrat who takes bribes, or a heartless judge who frees the guilty and fails to protect the innocent, or sly entertainers flaunting their perversion, evil must be withstood by men of courage or else we forfeit the future of our families.

The Lord tells us why he chose Abram, why he elevated him from exalted father to Abraham, father of a multitude. It was because he would be a faithful father to instruct or command his children. God said "I know him... I’ve chosen him." Based on what? The Lord had observed Abraham training his household servants as though they were his family, boldly rescuing Lot, then honoring God with tithes from the plunder. (Genesis 18:19) This shows us that when God chooses someone, he first tests them to prove their faith prior to releasing their blessing.

Abraham’s faith was birthed by God’s gracious choice, not any man’s determination. God can vindicate anyone He chooses, if we respond to his grace with faith that endures. God selected Abraham, approved him through trials, and then gave him a posterity beyond his wildest dreams. God the Father is in the business of selecting and supporting fathers who pass the test. God will fight for fathers when they stand for what is right, confront evil, and defend their children. God is still looking for men who walk in the steps of father Abraham.

Today, vicious enemies have risen up against Abraham’s natural seed, Israel. Our Father in heaven is not passive nor neutral. He is on the side of covenant faithfulness. The three-generation promise that he swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will not be undone. God will keep his word.

Simultaneously, another battle is unfolding behind the scenes. Wicked forces assail the saints and seek to plunder their inheritance. Satan is resisting the spiritual Seed of Abraham, Christ Incorporated, the Church which is his Body. In behalf of us all, God will work wonders again. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will arise and make bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations, for the glory of His Son and for the salvation of a multitude.

It is time for the saints to possess -- through prayer and faith -- the kingdom purchased for us by Jesus. It’s time for the power and glory of the kingdom to be displayed.

Considerations and Applications:
1. Being servants in the house where God birthed you is a high calling.
2. Real Fathers in the Faith treat those who serve like sons, not hirelings.
3. Equipping sons in the house is part of your calling, if indeed you are a father.
4. If you depart from fatherhood as did Lot, you will be captured by an alien culture.
5. Everything God does that’s built to last begins with fatherhood.
6. God the Father will fight for Jesus’ birthright: Israel, the saints, the nations.

Father’s War © 2006 by Ron Wood. Write us at ron@touchedbygrace.org. See more material online at touchedbygrace.org. A Ministry of Prophetic Teaching. We are Touched by Grace to Touch the World!

Houses and Fields & Fearless Faith

2005-09-20T08:27:00.000-04:00

These two words are related. Debbie is an experienced prophetic intercessor and a dear friend. She is spear-heading an apostolic war summit for intercessors set for our area with Dale Sides. I’ve asked her permission to share this timely word with you and added my own to it as a one-two punch. Enjoy!

Houses & Fields
By Ron Wood

The Lord gave me a prophetic word recently about the house and the field. In this word, He said “The wisdom of the master-builder can be seen inside the house, but the power of the seed is seen only in the field.” I saw the Lord making a distinction between the house and the field. I knew there was more to this word, so I’ve considered it further and have some thoughts to share.

It’s a mistake to try to make everything happen inside the house. We tend to relegate all the ministries to classrooms, kitchens, and nurseries. These are all in-house duties. Distracted with many chores in the house, we may forget the field outside the door. But the field is where the Lord is looking. Why? Because: the field is where the harvest is found. In this season the Lord is saying, “thrust in the sickle for the harvest is ripe.” It is time to reap. Harvest and judgment coincide in the Lord.

Hosea 6:11 says, “…there is a harvest appointed for you, when I restore the fortunes of my people.” Listen: You have an appointed harvest from God! This rich blessing will arrive at a time of restoration, not just for you, but for all of God’s people. Where will you find it? Many Christians feel frustrated; many are trying to find some place more satisfying. Does that describe you? The problem may be that you should be exercised in the field, not sitting in a house becoming a spiritual vegetable.

Field work is different from house work. Field work is arduous and dirty. House work is tedious but clean. Both are work, not play. If we were farmers, we would all know that the tough work is done outside in the field, but refreshing comes inside at the table with the family. Both kinds of work are necessary but they are not the same.

Paul wrote about these two types of labor as he described the various efforts of apostles who had teamed up as servants to make the Church at Corinth thrive. He said, “For we are God’s fellow-workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” God uses teams composed of incompatible people. Only His yoke keeps them together (ouch!). No one type of ministry can fully equip God’s people. We are designed with built-in deficits. Humbly, we need to admit that we need one another as equal partners in order to finish God’s work.

Some laborers are gifted at building, others are gifted at farming. One labor involves laying a foundation, designing and erecting a structure, and then furnishing it. The other requires locating the right field, planting the right seed, tending it to keep predators or weeds away and finally gathering the crop when it is ripe. At harvest time, intense effort is required. Everyone lends a hand after long periods of being idle. Where do you store the crop? In a nearby barn that is part of a house. The house and the field are meant to be connected, part of the same territory or sphere, part of the same cycle of reproduction.

If you make builders labor outside in the field, you’ll be disappointed with the results. You may have orderly rows, but a lean crop will occur. If you make farmers plow and sow and reap inside the house, you’ll be disappointed with the pitiful potted plants that barely manage to bloom. These workers are different gifts from God with different grace in operation intended to produce different effects. But both are God’s fellow-laborers.

This phrase in the Greek is sun ergo, (together-energy) translated into English as “synergy,” which means “the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.” Teamed up, we produce more than when working alone. Who is our team-mate? God! He is at work both in the house and in the field. In the kingdom, teams are assigned tasks to get a job done. Some workers are stationary. James rarely left Jerusalem. Some workers are mobile. Paul never stayed long in any one place. Houses are rooted in a location. Seed is portable and easily carried to new fields.

Now listen to the wisdom of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord said, “The power of the seed can only be seen outside in the field.” Sometimes we don’t know what we’ve got until we get it relocated and activated. The miracle of grace erupts as the seed germinates under the right conditions in the right location. Seed, locked up in a sterile environment, produces no crop and never multiplies. Seed is meant to be sown, not stored forever.

The power of the seed is the life of Jesus inside you. Trust in that power! It will be unlocked by your faith as you cry out to him after you are sown into unpleasant circumstances.

Jesus spoke of world as his field and of houses that will either stand or fall. Fields are subject to seasons; houses are not. Seasons must be discerned or they will be missed and the work will be in vain. Houses are subject to fires and storms and winds. Houses go in cycles of generations, not seasons. There is a time to build a house and a time to work in the field. “Do your work first in your field and afterwards build your house.” Don’t jump over the field trying to get to the building stage too soon. Don’t neglect the field or your house will be bare.

Jesus said a man found a treasure hidden in a field and sold all he had to buy it. He didn’t find the treasure in a house—he found it in a field. Likewise, the riches God has intended for his house are first derived from the field. All that is good in the house was discovered first in the field. The wealth that furnishes the house comes from the field if we work it; it is only stored up in the house for the good of the family or to buy more fields to increase the harvest.

Ron Wood
ron@touchedbygrace.org

Fearless Faith
By Debbie Davis

We must get past the fear that tells us we need to wait for permission. It's time to move because you have the Word of the Lord! Many in the Body of Christ are sitting and waiting. But waiting for what? Gifts, talents, and divine empowerments are going unused. How many examples do we see in the Scripture of whole people groups waiting to be delivered? The enemy would love God’s appointed and anointed to just be idle; to sit and wait for a sign. Fear never affects only you; others are waiting for you to overcome your fears and move in faith. Others are depending on what you have been given, so go!!

Jesus Christ put all the keys to spiritual power in our hands to complete the work of the Kingdom. He has given us authority and power to trample on serpents and scorpions, and (physical and mental strength and ability) over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall in any way harm you. (Luke 10:19).

The Lord is assembling an army of valiant warriors. A wake up call is being heard across the land and the army is coming to attention. There has been an unprecedented assault of terror and fear by our enemy. God needs those who will be fearless and full of faith for such a time as this. The Lord is networking the Body of Christ who are like-minded and of a different spirit, those who cannot be stopped by the intimidator! These warriors are uncompromising Army of the Lord who are not interested in fame or fortune but only in hearing and obeying the Captain of the Lord of Hosts.

Fear is always the opposite of faith. It will be the difference between defeat and victory! Fear sets out to strip us of our God-given authority, to dilute the power of God at work in us, to drive us from the love of God. Fear torments the mind and wants to destroy our witness for Jesus. Fear will always keep you in bondage and steal your victory.

The power of fear will render you useless if you allow it to take root. It will keep you stagnant and stunt your spiritual growth. Fear will rob you of being profitable for the kingdom of God. It will stop you from fulfilling your God-given call. It will make you waste your gifts and talents.

I believe we are in a time of divinely anointed exchange. We are being required to look our fears in the face. Do you see it? Can you confront it? Complacency and lethargy are being traded for a willing attitude. God is looking for those who will not be limited or hindered in any way by the spirit of fear. Fear controls; trust liberates. This army will declare, "God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind."

There is a wooing of the Spirit for us to make a trade: to lay down our former motives based on fear (guarding what you’ve got) and to take up the power of God (going into new uncharted territory). Move past the difficult situations, push through hindering circumstances and yes, even push past the people-- those who’ve been discouraging you-- and move into courage and obedient action. Acknowledge you are ready to do great exploits for the one true God- the one who goes before you!

Debbie Davis (email address: soundthealarmdd@juno.com)

Pastors on Probation, Jubilee of Healing & Golden Wine

2001-10-13T11:54:00.000-04:00

The months of June and July were a turning point chronologically in the year. It marked moving from the first half to the last half of the year. This is also a significant period in God’s dealings with the Church. I will explain why it was a turning point in kairos time, a brief opportunity in which to hear and obey the LORD, a time to fast and pray, to repent and return. Any word from God requires our immediate response or else we have despised the His authority.

God has been speaking to His church about the restoration of apostles and prophets. Now, He is specifically addressing the critical issues of apostolic power and apostolic purpose.

"The office of the pastor is on probation." On the eleventh day of June, I awoke with these unusual words running through my mind. It seemed the Lord had been talking to me in my sleep.

By probation, I understood the Lord to be saying that a sentence had been handed down, but mercy from the Judge was delaying its implementation. Someone on probation has already been convicted of wrong doing. By office of the pastor, I understood the Lord to mean the congregational leader, the typical model we picture today of the local church’s senior pastor who oversees a church in a building whether that gathering is fifty or five hundred people.

Congregations have emerged as the de facto model of church life. In fact, they are an adaptation taken from the days of captivity, a synagogue form of former Temple worship. That doesn’t make them wrong. But we need to recognize that there is nothing sacrosanct about that particular model. It is just a practical tool to get the job done, an alternative method to extend the kingdom, a traditional strategy to preach the gospel, and an easy way to provide care for the people of God.

Other methods also work well in some locations and cultures. In the Book of Acts, Paul’s method was as an apostolic team that traveled from city to city, making disciples and planting cell or house churches. That was practical for his day for an era of new beginnings. Wherever we are, our model must serve our mission for the season we are in. To quote Derek Prince, "If it is not practical, it is not spiritual." Are we results oriented? Or stuck with a method because "that’s the way we always did it."

The popular congregational model takes many forms and is quite varied. For years, I have complained that the Pentecostals had imported a Baptist model of congregational church life, implementing Robert’s Rules of Order to run church meetings as though God’s word needed man’s system. But different streams have adopted different rules, and different gift-mixes in the leadership produced structures that met the need of that hour. When a leader emerges with grace for government, the church certainly develops along lines that seem more biblical and are more effective. Our grace-gifts determine our boundaries.

No one can build beyond their own calling and vision. You can’t exceed your calling, only fall short of it. A carpenter can’t be an architect. He’s not equipped for it. That isn’t a criticism, just an observation. The problem has been that church structures have been invented that have no basis in the Bible. Today the foundation of government and structure in the church has rested mostly on pastors, yet Paul said the foundation should be on apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). This error by default has produced a hybrid of church life that misses the mark.

Why would God say that pastors are on probation? I admire pastors and support their role! I think the pastors are the unsung heroes of the faith, bearing the heat of the day. But most pastors have settled for something less than God’s best. Quantity is substituted for quality. They fill up their pews but don’t make disciples. Yet Jesus wants to bring many sons to glory! That is both quantity and quality! God wants disciples. That’s our great commission. Perhaps we’ve lost the kingdom imperative. The congregational model measures success based on buildings, budgets, and buses. How many people attend my church? That vision misses the mark. God is concerned for more than just your congregation— He is after your whole city!

Apostles make spiritual sons. And, apostles have faith to take cities. They arrive on the scene (or emerge from within our ranks) with a different kind of spiritual DNA. They don’t settle for building solitary congregations. That vision is too small. They are generals in God’s army who are sent to un-seat principalities and liberate a city for Christ. Apostles think in terms of territory, not buildings on a street corner. Apostles see the need for spiritual leaders in a city to network together for the gospel’s sake. Their mission is to make war on the enemy. On the other hand, pastors offer maintenance for groups of people who have been saved within that city.

Think cities. Jonah was sent as a prophet to a city, Nineveh. God was concerned for the fate of that wicked city, that it might repent and be spared judgment. God wants whole cities to be saved. Jesus wept over a city, Jerusalem. He cried because they had not known the hour of their visitation, a unique opportunity characterized by kingdom envoys of prophets and the Chief Apostle Himself being present within her city walls.

A city is more than a socio-economic community. It is a also a battlefield where God wants to marshal His troops and destroy enemy forces. Cities were strategic in the Book of Acts for the extension of God’s kingdom. They still are. The church is meant to minister to the city, not just bring a few escapees to her meetings.

Despite our errors and mis-focus, fortunately, God rarely starts over. Usually, He gives us space to repent, to return and to do the first works, to re-hear what we missed, to begin obeying Him now. God gives us a "space for grace." God patiently re-speaks Himself into His people until the Word of God takes hold and affects our lives and our community of faith. In our cities, God wants His word to prevail, not just any one church or denomination. Jesus is Lord of our city!

Pastors are being offered an opportunity to allow the Head of the Church to adjust their thinking and modus operandi. It is time to partner with apostles and prophets, to network with other pastors, to break out of traditional molds so that vibrant church growth and God’s kingdom authority can be manifested among us. It is time to see evil spirits cast out and severe illnesses cured and whole households saved! When the government of the church gets right, the government of cities and nations will get right. How can this happen? A paradigm shift is needed. Then a power shift occurs.

We need an adjustment. Have you ever been to a chiropractor? Jesus is the Great Physician. He is a Kairos-Practor. In a moment, He can invade our space-time world. With one word, He can change everything. He can line up the backbone of the Church with an adjustment that makes us snap into alignment with the Head! Jesus can fix us so that the pain in the body goes away.

It is time to quit playing in our pastoral pond and start swimming in God’s apostolic river. Pastors who feel this call often seem frustrated and appear dissatisfied to their flock. Actually, they are keenly in touch with the heart of their Lord. But because we have few working models of the city church, believers who have known only congregational church can easily become critical of these front-line pastors who carry an apostolic-prophetic calling.

It is time to think strategically regarding your whole city, not just your individual success in your church. Don’t neglect your church, but lift up your eyes and enlarge your vision. Think of the resources God has placed in your city, the other churches and leaders, the outside help you can bring in, the facilities you have built, the ministries God has planted among you, the felt needs in your community. Marshal resources to win your city, not just build your church. See the whole church in the whole city, not just your congregation.

Sometimes to win big, we need to think small. Don’t overlook the power of small groups. A pastor who meets with a handful of trainees, offering mentoring through relational training, can have a permanent affect on those lives. A small gathering of pastors praying in earnest for their city can have a giant effect on their region. The prayer of agreement based on God’s word is our primary spiritual weapon of warfare. Gatherings of believers in house fellowships in their neighborhoods can powerfully affect the community. Understand, the church has three layers: 1) The Church in the City; 2) Local Congregations; 3) and Cells, or little flocks that meet for nurture and prayer. Congregations are in the middle. They need to reach upward, into the city, and downward, into cells. Our structures should serve our mission. Are they working? If they don’t produce results, change them!

Apostolic purpose involves whole cities. God is now releasing apostolic power to accomplish that objective. Grace-gifts that have long been dormant are now being restored in order to equip God’s people for works of service.

I have seen a vision of a closet in God’s house of faith. It is filled with mantles, robes, garments of power and grace. Elijah’s mantle is still hanging in God’s closet! The ancient mantles of power that clothed men and women of renown are now being taken out of the closet and draped on the shoulders of modern prayer warriors and preachers, empowering saints who appropriate their anointing by faith. Healing centers are arising again. It is transformation time for true believers. The first Pentecost of the new millennium has now occurred.

Jubilee of Healing

God’s kairos openings from heaven are worked out in our chronos space-time. In the fullness of time, God sends His word and in due course we see the results. My friend Sanford Cooper says, "God is not time conscious like we are, but He is time-sensitive."

God’s "suddenlies" are obscured until they dramatically burst forth, always at just the right time. Remember, Jesus was a nine-month baby. Likewise, we become pregnant with God’s rhema word. Like Mary, we must carry it to term. God’s word and our response to it, determines our season. I believe God is telling many prophets that we are now in a season of restoration. It is Jubilee time! Jubilee in the Bible is a celebration that marks fifty years. It marked the season of release and restoration in the Old Testament like Pentecost marked the outpouring of the Spirit in the New Testament.

Fifty years ago, God did something amazing in the Church. A sustained season of miracles occurred. An example of this was June 5, 1951, the beginning of the great stadium campaign led by Tommy Hicks in Argentina. That revival affected the whole city and the nation. Miracles confirmed the word and multiplied thousands were saved. Today, the Argentine revival has produced an on-going renewal that is refreshing the whole Body of Christ. Its repercussions continue to touch the world and have affected Toronto and Pensacola and the modern global prayer-movement (for example, Ed Silvoso and Carlos Annocondia).

The era of around 1948 through the early fifties was an unusual revival. It was primarily in America. It preceded the modern charismatic renewal. This powerful revival was marked by miracles of healing with signs and wonders beyond description. It was a season of raw power. The gift of faith for miracles was functioning in the Church. Although the gift was from heaven, it was carried by earthly men. Sin and carnality eventually spoiled that revival. But its decline did not do away with its reality. Awesome evangelists were raised up whose ministries shook nations. Church historians call it the "Latter Rain" or the "Healing Revival." It was a resurgence of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Giant tents marched across the country filled with people being saved and healed. These were the days of William Branham, Raymond T. Richey, Jack Coe, and Oral Roberts. Gordon Lindsey, who founded Christ for the Nations, recorded much of this history for us. My life was impacted by one of those pioneers, evangelist Richard Vinyard, who had a remarkable gift of faith. This healing revival was short-lived but powerful. It was a foretaste of things to come. It left an indelible mark on the Church.

Fifty years have passed since that great revival. It is time to repent so that what was lost can be restored. We can’t do God’s work without God’s power. We can’t substitute education or the respect of the world for the anointing. It is time to seek the Lord for a return of the Holy Spirit’s raw power.

Power is coming back to the church. But this time, it won’t be marred by independence and arrogance and competition. It will be sanctified by apostolic purpose and guarded by teams of leaders who in honor prefer one another, who love the church more than they love their own ministries. Power often comes back in seasons and in cycles. For my life, the September-October season has always been significant, a "window" of time when I have discovered new grace or moved into new opportunities. God respects the calendar He created. Therefore, I believe this Jewish New Year and Day of Atonement will be an awesome turning point on earth’s timetable.

Apostolic power and purpose are returning with a rush. The prayers of God’s people are mounting up to the altar of heaven, the incense is being mixed in, and holy fire is being cast on the earth. Shaking is about to occur. Armies of angels are entering the harvest. Intercessors won’t be disappointed. Leaders are being promoted even as we watch, promoted into intimacy with Christ, into authority over the devil, into the privilege of winning their city for God’s kingdom.

Golden Wine for a June Bride

June is a month of many anniversaries. My wife and I were married June first, 1969. She was a June bride. Another dream came to me the morning of June 16^th. It also speaks to this season, this space of grace we are currently experiencing. In this dream, I saw a wine glass filled with golden wine.

Usually we think of biblical wine as red, a deep grape color. Red wine comes from purple grapes. Purple is the color of royalty, a king’s color. The wine of Christian Communion is red to symbolize the blood of Christ. That’s the cup of blessing we receive, the holy eucharist of the Lord’s Table. Thank God for the blood that washes away our sins, that seals the new covenant, that testifies to our finished redemption! Hallelujah!

But this wine I saw was straw-colored. Anyone who knows anything about wine knows that golden wine is typically sweet, like piesporter goldtrophen auslese, from the mature white grapes, not the green young fruit of the vine. Golden wine comes late in the harvest from hand-picked sun-ripened grapes left long on the vine. It is usually expensive, hard to come by, and highly prized. That’s the late-season wine which I saw.

Nature produces two kinds of grapes, the colored variety and the white variety. It seems to me that God uses these two images to represent two aspects of His great love toward humanity: grace and glory. The red wine symbolizes grace, the golden wine symbolizes glory. The first cup of Christ’s we partake of is grace based on the shed blood of Christ. That is basic to our salvation. The second cup we can partake of is glory, based on His manifest presence as He shows Himself to His adoring Bride. When this wine is served, the next event on God’s calendar is a Wedding Feast! Then the Church will reunited with Jesus forever.

Glory is now being poured out in a crystal goblet for the bride, a golden wine being offered by the One who loves the Church and gave Himself for her. An invitation to intimate communion is being extended from heaven, to make your heart merry, to dance with joy. Grace has paved the way for glory. His love is intoxicating! The Bride of Christ is beginning to reflect the glory of her soon-to-appear Bridegroom.

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly." (Psalm 84:11 KJV) It was never enough for Jesus to simply redeem us. He also wants us to be with Him where he is, to be partakers of His glory (see John 17). This was Jesus’ intent from the beginning. "I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom." (Matthew 26:29 NAS)

The golden wine speaks to me of the celebration of God’s revelation, the unfolding of the drama which grace initiated before time began, the consummation of our Father’s purpose which finds fulfillment in bringing many sons to glory.

But a word of warning: while grace is free, glory costs something. No flesh can glory in God’s presence. Something has to happen to us that humbles our flesh. Glory is preceded by and accompanied with suffering. Glory and suffering are linked together in the experience of the prophets and in the predictions of the apostles. God’s kingdom has an aspect of glory not yet seen on the earth. Are we bold like Moses to ask to see His glory? Then we must be ready to be purified by fire.

Many believers today are praying the prayer of Jabez (1 Chronicles 4:10). Jabez prayed for grace and blessings. That is well and good. But another prayer is also beginning to arise, mostly from leaders who have come to the end of themselves and desperately need more of God. That is the prayer of Moses. Jabez changed his destiny by praying contrary to his birth name. And God heard him. We should all rise above our circumstances by calling on God. But Moses went a level higher than that when he interceded for God’s people. Chosen for a difficult task, he prayed, "Let me know your ways so that I can know you and have your favor." (Exodus 33:13) Then he added this final request: "Show me your glory!"(vs18). He went beyond grace to glory.

But God wouldn’t do it. Instead, He showed him His goodness. It is not a sin to seek to see God’s glory. Those who see it are never the same. But if we fall short of glory, at least we get His goodness! That’s not bad, is it? The full revelation of God’s glory awaited the New Testament era. Now, grace has paved the way not only for goodness, but also for glory. By faith in Jesus, through the gospel, we get to see "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6 NAS) Glory is resident in a Person.

The goodness of God is leading us to repentance. His overflowing grace is causing us to rejoice. But that is not a solitary rejoicing apart from our brothers. We are repenting of our independence, our arrogance, our criticism of one another in different parts of the church and in different ethnic groups. The same sins that caused God to lift His hand of blessing from the revival of healing in the fifties will also cause Him to keep His glory from resting on us in this new millennium. "You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you." (Genesis 43:5) Likewise, the full light of Jesus’ glory awaits our reconciliation and reunion in Christ.

We are not alone in the Body of Christ. We need one another. This new revival that’s coming is not individualistic, but corporate. It will honor our relationships, our need to be gathered around the Ascension Gift ministries, our need to walk in covenant love with one another, our need to team up to fulfill the Great Commission, our need to be in a community of worshiping believers welcoming His presence. We need to recognize the gifts that God has set among us and receive Jesus as He invests Himself by His Spirit in His church. We are being readied to see the unveiled glory of His face as His appearing draws near.

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© 2001 by Ron Wood. Ron and his wife, Lana, have been pastors more than 30 years. He has served as a State Coordinator for the U. S. Strategic Prayer Network. Ron is best known for his prophetic writing ministry. Ron & Lana are a ministry team. They are members of Reconciliation Ministries International led by Bishop Joseph Garlington. Ron & Lana were sent to Africa to help equip emerging apostolic leaders in the developing church. If you wish to copy this article for free distribution, permission is hereby granted to duplicate it provided there are no changes or omissions made to this article and this byline is included. The author asserts his moral rights of ownership. For more information or helpful literature, visit our web site at touchedbygrace.org, or e-mail us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

War Awakening

2001-10-30T11:53:00.000-05:00

Since the horrific attacks on Sept. 11, all of us Americans have passed through the stages of shock, grief, and anger. We have watched our nation battle fear, show compassion, exemplify courage, and have seen our government's resolve to prevent its recurrence and to execute justice. The evil mastermind of the plot has spoken out, encouraging more fanatical assaults against America. Our president ordered a military response, seeking to prevent further attacks. Overnight in America, we were transformed from a people at peace to a people at war.

The reality is that the world was already at war. But most of us had been ignorant of it or naive about it. We now know that this plot was hatched years ago. It took hundreds of people and perhaps half a million dollars. The war didn't start on September eleventh, it just broke out into the open on that date. The invisible war suddenly became very visible. America had a wake up call. But more than that, the church's long childhood has ended.

Since the 9-11 event, I have been asking the Lord to show me how to pray. What weapons of warfare can we bring against our enemy? I am talking about spiritual weapons, the arsenal which Christians are authorized to employ against Satan and his works. We need to know how to pray, because the real war is fought for the souls of men and women, not with bullets on a battlefield.

We have entered a new season and we need to discern the times. Our prophetic intelligence apparatus has to be fine-tuned. This current attack and America's response offers clues to a dramatic spiritual shift. What has been going on in the spiritual world? What has changed?

First, understand the present season. All over the world, millions of Christians have been praying for the 10-40 window, the area of the globe which is least evangelized. This area also happens to be the stronghold of the Muslim religion. Inside these Islamic nations (with few exceptions) there is no freedom of religion. In these countries, it is a crime to preach the Bible or to attempt to convert people to faith in Jesus. What were we praying for? We were praying for the salvation of millions in the grip of deception. Why were we praying? Because God loves lost people! Unless Muslims are saved, they will die without forgiveness of sins or the gift of eternal life which Christ purchased by His death on the cross. God wants Muslims to be saved.

In the light of this global concert of prayer for our oppressed neighbors, the true nature of the battle has been exposed. God has taken the wraps off the real spirit lurking behind the tyranny of Islam. We can now see the evil power which has hijacked much of the Muslim religion. The evil force which is behind Islam has showed its ugly head. And it is a murderous, frightening spirit.

We see the nature of this spiritual entity in the fruit of its dominion. Islamic radicals, once they take over a nation, use the power of the state as an agent of sorcery to control peoples' thinking. They use intimidation, manipulation, and domination to keep people from hearing the gospel and making their own choices about God. The Taliban oppress women, brainwash children, bring an end to freedom of speech and freedom of worship, and prevent the free exchange of ideas.

Let me summarize briefly the major differences between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We need to understand how these religions differ. They are similar in that all three are monotheistic, they believe in one God, not many gods like Hinduism. Muhammad originally referred to Christians as "people of the Book." All three religions honor Abraham. Jews trace their ancestry to Isaac while Muslims trace theirs to Ishmael. The three big differences are: How do you deal with sin? What is the written Word of God? Who was Jesus?

Jews and Muslims have a method of salvation that depends on keeping the law or doing good works. Muslims have five pillars of faith which they must do. The first is to recite the creed, "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger." Christianity offers salvation by faith based on the finished atonement of Jesus on the cross. Christianity believes the whole Bible. Judaism believes only the Old Testament, plus they add the Talmud, the commentaries on the Law. Islam's holy book is the Koran, supposedly dictated to Muhammad by an angel. The Koran is considered their perfect and ultimate word. The Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah, just a teacher. They rejected Him when He said "My kingdom is not of this world." Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet. Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God, the Word made flesh, our Lord and Savior who died for the sins of the world. Muhammad died in A.D. 632 and was buried. Islam's teaching says Muhammad supercedes all other prophets, including Jesus. But Muhammad is dead and still in the grave while Jesus was raised up and now lives forever!

Muslim clerics often declare jihad or "holy war." Let me talk for a moment about the nature of religious violence. From lessons of history we know that fanaticism can infect any religious system. Religion can become a breeding ground for demons and war. Not long ago a Japanese cult following a self-appointed guru released deadly sarin nerve gas on a subway. At one time, ancient Indians in Central America offered human sacrifices to their sun god, cutting out peoples' still-beating hearts. In the dark ages, European kings sent Christians on militant crusades against both Jews and Arabs. Protestant and Catholic Christians have bombed and killed one another for centuries in northern Ireland. Over the centuries, Muslim crusaders have killed huge numbers of civilians who resisted their forced conversion to Islam. And modern Jews have committed atrocities against their Palestinian neighbors. None of us have clean hands. How can this happen in the name of religion? Isn't religion supposed to be about goodness and kindness?

The Bible says, "If anyone hates his brother, how can the love of God dwell in him?" Hatred perverts religion. If we nurse our grudges long enough, if we fail to forgive those who hurt us, if we harbor anger persistently, then the spirit of murder can get into our heart. Jesus told some angry Jews, "You are of your father the devil because you seek to kill me." (John 8:37-44) When we harbor hatred, we switch allegiance from God to Satan, no matter what creed we declare.

Any time we want to kill someone because of religious intolerance, we have left the kingdom of light and become agents of the kingdom of darkness. Satan is a murderer. Satan entered into the heart of one of Jesus' followers, Judas Iscariot. The doorway for the devil to enter Judas was jealousy regarding the money (he was the team treasurer) and political extremism regarding his hated for the Romans. Nationalism corrupted his heart so that he betrayed the Son of God.

The devil can hijack any religion when hatred is preached or practiced. In fact, unclean spirits, operating in a religious setting, can energize misguided zealots with an unholy anointing to hate even more. The devil gladly empowered Adolf Hitler with a diabolical wisdom to try to exterminate the Jews. The devil filled Saddam Hussein's heart with lust for power so that he has murdered Kurds and slaughtered thousands of his own people. It is blasphemy to credit a holy God with this kind of evil venom. The origin of hatred and murder is not God but Satan, using sinful people. When people entertain sin, Satan has the right to enter their hearts. Only Jesus can free people from bondage to sin and Satan. Either we surrender to Jesus or we serve Satan. When we repent of our sin and put our faith in Christ, His blood can set us free! Jesus sets people free from hatred and fear and then as we follow Him, He fills our hearts with love and faith.

For me personally, the timing of the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred when I had been searching the Scriptures and inquiring of the Lord concerning apostolic ministries. I know that the church is just beginning to understand the apostolic task in our day. But I have discovered this fact: In the Bible, the appearance of genuine apostles and the outbreak of spiritual warfare was a synonymous event. There is no reason to believe their restoration today will be any different. Indeed, apostles are built for war.

Why should war be unfamiliar to us? Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil, not coexist with them (1 Jn. 3:8). We live amidst kingdoms in conflict. Jesus taught that the expulsion of evil spirits signaled that the kingdom of heaven was at hand (Mt. 12:29). Before anything can be expelled, it must first be exposed. God is now exposing wickedness. All of our hearts are being exposed-- Christians, Jews, and Muslims. God's judgment on the works of Satan is near. God's advancing kingdom upsets Satan's realm. He reacts, knowing his time is short.

The apostle Paul was no stranger to spiritual warfare. He said that our fight to undo Satan's oppression was not a battle against flesh and blood, but one using spiritual weapons. This is written in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. He described our fight as "warfare." The Greek word he used, strateia, is defined by Strong's Dictionary as "the apostolic career, as one of hardship or danger." The root of the word indicates a military campaign. So the process of performing the apostolic ministry includes warfare.

3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:3-5 NIV)

Apostolic warfare uses mighty weapons (such as prophetic prayer, proclaiming God's Word, or prophesying God's will) to pull down fortresses or strongholds. Strongholds are fortified lies (erroneous beliefs) deeply entrenched in peoples' minds. Ignorance, violence, and oppression are characteristics of evil strongholds. I submit to you that the barbaric oppression of women under the Islamic system exemplifies how desperately these precious people need liberation from bondage.

All of Satan's lies (demonic conceits such as the spirit of rejection or shame) are usually guarded by strong emotions and prejudices. These ideas come from two sources: the devil, or deceived people. It matters who you listen to!

The text of this Bible verse uses two phrases which are variously translated high things (NIV- "arguments") and imaginations. (NIV- "pretensions"). It is helpful to consider these two aspects of the devil's propaganda. These are the major ways Satan controls peoples' thinking to keep them from the knowledge of Christ. One is religious, the other is secular.

High things refers to spiritual barriers to the truth of God which alone leads to repentance and faith. These barriers are ideas which substitute for Biblical salvation by regeneration. They offer religion without inner transformation. These ideas originate from high ranking lying spirits called principalities and are mediated through false prophets and occult writings. These deceits may begin with an "angel of light" appearing to a gullible liberator, someone eager for influence but not knowledgeable of the Bible. Examples are cults or sects, usually religious in nature, which incorporate extra-biblical revelation in addition to or as a substitute for the Bible (such as the Book of Mormon). They also offer salvation by works instead of by grace, follow egoistic cult-like leaders who don't want their authority questioned, and promote idolatry in some form. Thier fruit reveals their root.

Imaginations refers to secular philosophies that cloud peoples' minds, thus obscuring the truth of God. These are lies that affect cultural values. Modern examples are: totalitarianism, such as "The state owns everyone and everything" (atheistic communism); evolution as a religion, such as "Creation did not have a Creator" (scientific rationalism that excludes First Causes); religious pluralism, such as "All roads lead to God" (tolerance that denies any one way is right or better); or secular humanism, such as "What I do with my sexuality doesn't matter" (deification of self). Usually we are unaware that we have these paradigms. But we all have them to some degree, at least until our minds are renewed by the Spirit of Truth and by knowing the Word of God.

So the warfare is ideological and it is also spiritual. We need to understand the real nature of war or else we will become casualties. War is also a time of unique opportunities. There are battlefield promotions. War is a time when new leadership emerges and weak leadership falls. God's war against Satan results in carefully crafted apostolic generals being prepared, raised up, recognized, and released. There is also such a thing in God as wartime prosperity. The Lord spoke to me once using the delightful image of Daddy Warbucks in the musical Little Orphan Annie. I saw that when God's leaders will go to war to liberate the oppressed, the Lord will provide the resources for their effort. "No soldier goes to war at his own expense." Maybe we are lean in our provisions because we have never left the camp!

War is more than a fight between individuals. It is more than a police action. War is when one government launches an attack against another government. War seeks to either liberate or dominate a people, therefore it wants to replace their seat of power. War is about power. War is often fought to gain control of strategic resources. War is fought to obtain oil, land, or other wealth. Thankfully, America has never gone to war to dominate, only to liberate.

Let's shift the discussion away from civil governments and think for a moment from a Biblical world-view, from a kingdom mentality. We need to ask ourselves, Does God have a government? How is it led? Who are its leaders? The obvious next question is: Does Satan have a government? Can his evil empire have human personifications and commanders? Sometimes the invisible war which begins in a spiritual realm can break out into a material and human realm. Frank Peretti's classic novel, "This Present Darkness," is an illustration of this reality.

If war is a clash of governments, then it involves a campaign which lasts over time and affects many people. War is about resolve, the exercise of resolute will power. The will to win is a prerequisite to victory. Winston Churchill was an example of a man who understood the nature of evil and its impact upon nations. He had the will to stand against it. While others wrung their hands and practiced appeasement, Mr. Churchill took an unwavering stand against Hitler. War requires single-minded focus. Disunity makes any kingdom collapse. The power of agreement, offered freely by followers and by an administration's staff members, is what gives a leader the ability to lead into battle and win.

Biblically speaking, agreement with God is positive, while a conspiracy is negative. A conspiracy occurs when people agree together to stand against legitimate authority or government. Jesus said, "If you're not with Me, you're against Me." The church must make a decision: Are we in agreement with our Head, the Lord Jesus, or in a conspiracy against Him and His end-time purpose? Jesus is a Liberator. He wants every believer to help deliver the oppressed. His kingdom is the place where He works out His will against His enemies. We are in active service with the "Lord of hosts," the Lord of armies. Therefore to be passive or to practice appeasement during war is actually to conspire against our Lord.

I have been fascinated, I think by the Holy Spirit's illumination, with the apostle Paul's campaign through various cities in the Book of Acts (For more on this topic, see my teaching outline on our website entitled "How Apostles Affect Cities").

Paul used military strategies as he grew in his understanding of how to liberate cities by the gospel from Satan's power. His life's work culminated in the liberation of Ephesus from Diana worship. It was a successful campaign that took years to accomplish and affected other cities in the region as well. It involved preaching the gospel of the kingdom, training new leaders, ministering the baptism in the Holy Spirit, developing neighborhood prayer-cell groups, practicing spiritual warfare against sorcery, and an apostolic team acting in concert over time.

Paul was a radical. He was a bull in a china shop. He was an unlikely recruit for the church. Yet Jesus personally appeared to him and saved him. Why did Jesus save this man who so busily tormented true believers? And it happened by direct divine intervention! I imagine the church was praying fervently for relief from this persecutor and murder. But Paul was not converted by a preacher. Paul, still Saul of Tarsus, was evangelized by Jesus Himself. Jesus revealed Himself to Saul on the road to Damascus. This account was recorded in Acts 9. Paul referenced it again in Acts 22 and in Acts 26. It was the turning point of his life. Because of this encounter, the church's arch-terrorist became a powerful messenger of Jesus and the gospel. I believe concerted prayer by the persecuted church driven underground by fear led directly to the conversion of Paul. Satan lost his best agent and the kingdom of God gained its best proponent.

God used a terrorist to awaken the church. The result was a new cycle of powerful apostolic ministry that reached the ends of the earth. Could history be repeating itself?

Before Paul was converted, he was a religious terrorist (see Galatians 1:14, Acts 7:58-60, 9:1). Paul was like an Osama Bin Laden. He was breathing out threats and murder. He stood by as a witness of young Stephen's stoning. He plotted how to imprison Christians. He eagerly assented to their torture and killing. He knew he was right and they were wrong. He believed God was pleased as he happily killed these saints. There was not an ounce of sympathy in Saul toward the followers of Jesus. In his mind, he was defending the Jewish religion against heresy. He believed the institution of the divine Law including all of its traditions governing Jewish society had to be preserved even if he had to go to war to make it happen. He was orthodox and they were infidels. He felt justified in killing them. He had the official approval of his religious leaders to carry out his personal jihad. He was admired and applauded by those who felt intimidated by this new "Jesus movement." Paul was destined for political and religious greatness in his relentless campaign of terror against the young church.

It was at the peak of his animosity that he was interrupted on the trail of terror by a personal encounter with the Risen Lord, the One he denied and hated. In this experience, Paul was changed from a hater of Jesus and of the church into a lover of Jesus and of the Body of Christ. He was recruited for God's army, called to be an apostle, given instructions for what he should do next, and led by the hand, blind and humble, into the city. Can this still happen today?

I have often wondered why the Lord, after telling Paul what his assignment would be, also said, "I will show him how much he will suffer for Me." (Acts 9:16) Here is both God's wisdom and impartial justice. Paul was a terrorist who had meted out suffering and death to innocent saints. In his calling to the ministry, the Lord would allow a divine payback, causing him to taste some of what he had given to others. "What you sow, you reap." "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword." He would be driven to discover God's grace in the midst of his personal tribulations.

Besides this, God's general needed to have the stalwart resolve that would carry him through tough times. His character had to be forged in the fire of adversity. No sissies allowed! Later, Paul would write about his teammates and the battle-hardened companions who traveled with him. He called these men (and one-third of his team were women) "true yoke-fellows," "fellow-solders," and "fellow-workers" in the gospel. They endured hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. And like real soldiers, many lost their lives in the battle. They were heroes of the faith.

Now let's move on to a key component, Paul's secret of successfully waging spiritual warfare. This has applications today in the spiritual conflict splitting the world into factions.

We know from Paul's epistle to the Ephesians that he considered the highest and most effective activity which any Christians could engage in was to wrestle and struggle against invisible evil forces. We know this because he culminated his letter with instructions for how to fight and how to stand (Eph. 6). Paul's letters typically moved from doctrinal foundations to practical applications. In Ephesians, he discussed the blood of Jesus, redemption by faith, the riches of grace, the unity of the Body of Christ, Ascension ministry offices, personal holiness, and then moved on to practical things such as marriage, parenting, employee relations, and finally, spiritual warfare. Notice, winning the war through prayer was the epitome, the peak of practical concerns. Everything else laid the foundation and was preliminary for successful spiritual warfare by the saints.

That is the point to which we have arrived today. The curtain is being drawn on the stage of planet earth. The real actors are now being shown. We are in a new age of war. It is an apostolic age in which God will conclude human history with the crowning of Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. This age both demands and produces generals, specially commissioned "sent ones," ambassadors of the King who carry the Lord's highest authority to liberate and to govern. They are sent to people groups, to nations and territories, and to spheres of authority given them by the Holy Spirit. Their credentials include God's anointing to deliver the oppressed, divine wisdom to build, and unrelenting perseverance in the work. They are not afraid to die for their cause. They are spiritual fathers who raise sons in the faith. They act like Jesus. They are worthy of our prayers and our partnership and our support. Indeed the battle lines are drawn.

There are two major keys to waging war against the principality of evil which has enslaved over a billion souls through Islam. The first is this: love your enemy. The second is this: Use the prayer of agreement, two or three standing together in the name of Jesus, against dark powers.

No one can intercede for another without deciding to love them. We love people who are made in the image of God and for whom Christ died. We hate Satan and the works he perpetrates to enslave humanity. As Christians, our battle is not with flesh and blood. Civil government "bears not the sword in vain" and has authority to use force to keep the peace and to punish evil doers. But Jesus told Christians "turn the other cheek." How radical this idea is in the light of vendettas that have gone on for generations!

Love people but hate the devil's work that hurts people. Love those who are ensnared by evil power and pray for them. What does it mean to love people? A vital aspect of real love is forgiveness. You cannot love someone whom you refuse to forgive. You cannot love and have prejudice. You cannot love and harbor grudges. You cannot love and hate at the same time. Satan would delight in so offending Christians that we can no longer forgive. When Jesus hung on the cross, He interceded for His tormentors. He asked for forgiveness for those crucifying Him. He released overwhelming grace by forgiving. When Stephen was being stoned to death, he prayed for those who were killing him. He saw the glory of God and found grace to forgive his enemies. I am certain this action affected Saul of Tarsus, who was a witness of this murder.

Forgiveness is the standard of God's love. Hatred cannot be defeated by more hatred. It can only be defused and defeated by forgiveness and love.

God is a just God. He listens to the cry of the oppressed. When someone is offended and hurt, they have legal standing before God's Court, the seat of all authority, the Throne of the universe. The injured party has a right to appeal to the God of justice based on God's will and God's Word. Will they appeal for revenge, or for mercy? They can bind murder or loose grace. Satan accuses us before the Throne of God. He wants our sins to mount up into a vicious cycle of retribution and more violence. But Jesus intercedes for us continually!

As Americans, we are injured. Now what will we do? I can come before God as an offended American, demanding my rights, demanding justice, wanting revenge. But is that the way of Christ? What is God's higher purpose right now? Should I accuse or intercede? I believe a higher purpose can be served if I come to God as an agent of Christ's kingdom. By God's grace, I can decide to represent the interests of Christ in my prayers, not just American interests.

We want the rampage of hate and murder by evil doers to be stopped by force if necessary. There is a time for war. But I believe the best revenge (if you can call it that) is for millions of Muslims to be saved and converted to faith in Christ Jesus. Radicals have cursed at us, but we turn and implore God for mercy and the blessing of salvation to be poured out on them.

We need to take the battle to the enemy in united prayer and in proclamation of the truth. First, pray for our President and his cabinet. There was intense spiritual war over his election, but by the prayers of the saints, the right man for the hour was put in office. Anytime God wants to dismantle the devil's works, He begins by forming a team committed to that task. The Bush administration is such a team, prepared for this day of conflict. God has fashioned a weapon in this adminstration. The Lord says, "Terror assaults have not come from Me, but if they attack you, they will fall because of you." (paraphrase, Isaiah 54:14-16).

Proclamation is also a weapon. We use the words of our mouth to inject into the atrmosphere the truth of God based on the Holy Bible, the truth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, risen from the dead, the King of glory, our Savior. While Muslims chant their call to prayer five times a day, Christians must unashamedly declare their confession: "Jesus Christ is Lord!" Words spoken in faith empower spiritual beings to act, whether evil spirits or holy angels.

We declare Jesus Christ is Lord, not Muhammad. We declare Jesus purchased humanity by His blood and He alone has the right to rule the nations. We prophesy that the kingdom of God will fill the earth and the glory of Christ will be seen in the nations. We proclaim that there is no name higher than Jesus our Lord. Our words become a sword used by the Spirit of God.

May the death of thousands result in the salvation of millions. May God hear the travailing cry of His wounded people. May heaven hear and take action. May the flow of oil money be diverted away from mosques and terrorists and toward good people who promote the gospel. May the stronghold of Islamic dominion be broken off the billion people in the 10-40 window. May confusion, division, and conflict come into the enemy's camp. May the prophets come forth out of the deserts, may the apostles stand up and enter the cities, and may the powers of heaven be shaken by the eternal gospel of Jesus and His unshakeable kingdom.

My constant petition is, "For the 5,000 killed by terrorists in America on September 11, I ask the Lord to raise up 5,000 apostles like Paul from within the Muslim nation who will not fear death but preach the resurrected Christ to their own people."

The fact is, prayer-cells out-number terrorist cells. There are millions of house churches, home prayer meetings and Bible studies, and neighborhood prayer watches already in existence around the world. Let all true believers who love our Lord Jesus now unite in concerted prayer for the salvation of our world, for evil to be uncovered and judged, for Christ to rule in the midst of His enemies. In this prayer campaign, we will not relent, we will not falter, and we will not fail.

The cross of cross requires it.

Ron Wood

Johannesburg, South Africa

www.touchedbygrace.org

Acres of Diamonds

2002-03-13T11:51:00.000-05:00

If you read National Geographic Magazine, you will notice this month's issue features America's only producing diamond mine, the Crater of Diamonds State Park, located in southwest Arkansas. For a small fee the public may search and dig all day on a plowed lamporite field of greenish-gray soil hopefully finding diamonds and other precious stones lying near the surface. When I was there early in March, fifty stones had already been found this year. Most are very small, the size of a match head. The area which produces diamonds is the center of an extinct volcano, now sun-drenched upturned earth surrounded by pine trees and forest. You can rent trowels and screens to help find the stones but no electric or powered tools are allowed. On display in the lobby is a beautiful diamond, a "one in a billion" find, a 0/0/0 rated 1.09 carat brilliant white gem mounted in a lovely ring designed by Underwood Fine Jewelers of Fayettville, Arkansas, after being expertly cut by Lazare Kaplan of New York City. An ideal cut diamond this perfect of this size is so rare that most jewelers will never see one in their lifetime. It is named the Strawn-Wagner diamond, originally an uncut three carat stone found by a Murfreesboro woman in 1990 as she searched through dirt that can only be described as acres of diamonds.

This is the place where the Lord welcomed my wife and I to retreat after our recent return from Africa. We enjoyed a haven of solitude and prayer, a place to listen to the Lord in quietness and rest in an old restored farmhouse made hospitable for God's workers needing respite. What a coincidence, that an opportunity to reconsider our strategy to take the riches of Christ to the poor of the earth should be near some of God's hidden riches buried in the ground. Not only that, but riches accessible to anyone desiring to search for them. And what a coincidence that while we were there, a magazine read by twenty million people highlighted this out-of-the-way region and its hidden riches.

Three years ago, God began speaking the words, "End-Time Transfer of Wealth." Last year, God gave me a phrase which I wrote into a brochure entitled, "Who wants to be a millionaire?" I told about how I had watched the American TV show only three times, but each of those times I witnessed a contestant go all the way to the top. After September 11, I shared about the phrase "Daddy Warbucks" from the movie about Orphan Annie and told how God reminded me that those who finance the war effort can become rich. (Realize, God has a war effort and He has officers and soldiers in the battle.) This past December my small book, "Thief in the Storehouse," which teaches that God wants to finance his kingdom workers, was translated into Spanish and delivered into the hands of hundreds of pastors in Cuba. As the people in the churches of Cuba begin to honor God out of their poverty, even though it is only a widow's mite, it will become inevitable that communist oppression will end and the embargo on trade will be lifted. Today as I awoke the Lord gave me this new phrase: "Acres of Diamonds."

I know this word is partly to encourage me, but also it is intended to bless you. Although at this present moment I am without funds to buy a vehicle or furnish a house, nevertheless, I am rich. I am rich with the treasures of heaven, the revelation of Jesus, the knowledge of God, the gift of eternal life, the abundant mercies of a risen Savior who knows me and calls me by name! And I speak this confession by sheer faith, I will handle millions of dollars for missions. I say this based on God's promise that whatever we ask in Jesus' name, He will do, if we have faith and not doubt. And I am asking for big things from God. Why? Because Jesus from the cross claimed the nations (Ps. 22:27-29).

Like Abraham, I am looking for what only God can provide. By faith, God speaks and "calls into being that which does not exist." (Romans 4:17 NAS) And God invites us to speak forth our faith as well. What God has promised, He is able to perform (vs. 21). Abraham, after considering his pitiful circumstances, also considered what God had said, thus he grew strong in faith (vs. 20). God will always have the last word. Will you listen? Whose report will you believe? This is faith's response: We must say what we hear so we can see what we said.

What if you had the found this valuable diamond or one of hundreds of other precious stones, some weighing more than six carats? What will you do when God blesses you? I am convinced that God has already placed along our path buried treasures awaiting excavation, resources more than sufficient to meet our needs and to finance His mission in these last days.

God has a program to allocate wealth in these last days. The apostle James had much to say about money, about how we treat the poor, and about faith and how it relates to good works. I want to quote from James and comment briefly on it. (See James 5:1-11 NASB95)

The End Time Transfer of Wealth

1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.

2 Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten.

3 Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!

4 Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

11 We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord's dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

Vs. 1 says great misery and lament will come to the rich. This isn't what we expect, is it? But when God releases judgement on the earth, those with the most to lose will feel it the keenest. Only the righteous will be spared (Malachi 3:16-4:3). Vs. 2 says riches can rot. Vs. 3 says gold can rust. Powerful images, metaphors from a spiritual reality. It is when riches are allowed to accumulate, unsanctified, unused for God, that they rot or rust. When such is the case, these riches testify against the owner. Did you know your money speaks to God, either for you or against you? And here is a key revelation: It is in the last days that stored up wealth produces such painful judgement. Verse 4 tells us why: the pay of the laborers has been withheld. It is always dangerous to defraud the workers whom God has sent. Vs. 11 says the outcome is in the hands of God.

Here is what I see being arranged unseen and unnoticed by our Almighty God. There is an agenda from heaven presently affecting the earth. This agenda is already operational. It is being enforced by holy angels, by the "coincidental" opportunities arranged by divine providence, by diligent application of ethical economic principles, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the dedicated talent of trained individuals and the corporate courage of companies with a kingdom vision, by men and women of faith who dare to believe God's covenant Word. It is an end-time transfer of wealth from the hands of the wicked into the control of the righteous. God is preparing to prosper His people! Jesus said the meek shall inherit the earth. Those who have sacrificed houses and lands and family for Christ and His kingdom will be amply repaid. "Say to the righteous, it will go well with them." God honors faith! Paul said this to those who would partner with him in his apostolic purpose, "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 4:19) Do you believe this promise?

What to do when God blesses you

Here's what to do if you find yourself standing on the verge of wealth-generation. Be careful that you do not forfeit the privilege God is offering you, that you do not squander your inheritance or waste this precious moment. Guard this season by applying God's ways to your wealth, God's methods to your money. In the fear of God please remember this, God who made you rich can also make you poor. Stewardship is required. Deuteronomy 8:18 shows you the source of your prosperity: "But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant..." Power to make money comes from God. Here are seven pointers to protect your new God-given opportunity:

1. Be patient. "Haste makes waste." Sowing must precede reaping. Every season serves the harvest. The season when the seed is in the ground doesn't look like much, but the farmer knows what will happen as time passes. Don't faint. Reaping is in "due season."

2. Don't criticize. Often a season of promotion is preceded by a season of humiliation. Pass the test of proven character. When God humbles you, guard your heart and keep it free of the weed called bitterness. Bitter roots choke off your crop and poison your harvest.

3. Honor God. You can't spend stolen money and go free. Honor God and be blessed. Tithes are the first one-tenth of all your earnings. If you withhold it, you rob God. That money (the tithe) has been marked and it shows up on God's tracking system. Those who steal tithes or withhold offerings or lie about pledges inherit a curse on their house (Zechariah 5:1-4; Malachi 3:8-12; Acts 5:1-5).

4. Eliminate debt. Paying interest unnecessarily only robs your future. Cut up credit cards, pay off automobile loans, retire debts early and quickly. Make financial freedom a primary goal. Travel light so God can recruit you. How do you avoid debt? Pay God 10%, then pay your self 10%. Use that savings as it accumulates to handle emergencies and to prepare for investments.

5. Establish a standard. Don't foolishly start living a lavish lifestyle just because you have come into wealth. Establish a standard which you are comfortable with then determine to stay there. Why? So you don't keep consuming an increasing percentage of your income. Find ways to give away more, to bless the poor, to sow more of your seed, not eat more of it up.

6. Help the poor. Many a man or woman has been made wealthy by God because their parents or grandparents gave to the needy. Ross Perot is an example. His father often took groceries around to the poor on Sundays. If you give to the poor, you lend to the Lord and He pays with good interest. Besides, you will have treasure in heaven that will never perish!

7. Invest in outreach. Most of our giving as Christians is to our own comfort or spiritual nourishment- to our church, our pastor, our worship facilities. Try sowing seed into other fields, into the lives of those who cannot repay you. Especially target for investment those whose words are reaching the poor of the earth with the riches of Christ. For example, Rheinhardt Bonnke, a German evangelist based in the US, is touching millions of Africans with the gospel. Help him do more. Consider SAT7, a ministry which beams down gospel programs into the homes of Palestinians in their language. Strengthen Ablaze International, the evangelistic miracle ministry of Stephen Strader in the Phillipines. Or, if you feel led, help me print and distribute thousands of kingdom teaching books through the ministry of Touched by Grace. We are knocking on amazing doors of opportunity now in India, Ghana, and Chile, as well as Cuba and South Africa. We need to seize the moment while we can.

These are ideas to consider as you stumble over precious stones buried in the soil where God has placed you. Look down, get low before God and open your eyes. See what's hidden right under your feet. Are you standing on acres of diamonds and don't yet know it?

© 2002 by Ron Wood. Visit us on the internet at http://www.touchedbygrace.org We are touched by grace to touch the world! For more information or to contact us, write Touched by Grace, P. O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA.

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Shaking, Sifting and Sorting

2002-10-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

I opened up my on-line banking service to monitor my checking account balance. Since our return from Africa, we've experienced God's faithfulness in the midst of having very little possessions except clothing and our car. I've bragged on God saying, "We're the best cared for homeless people in America!" We are grateful to the Lord for His kindness. We have need of nothing. To my surprise, the screen opened up to another bank account, someone with my same last name but with thousands of dollars on hand. Wow!

I looked more closely and studied this puzzle. I saw that I had full access to their account. I could see deposits, withdrawals, and the daily balance. My password had the power to move money from their account into mine! Then, some clues started to give me a hint of what happened. I saw a deposit that had a familiar name on it. It was my older brother's account in Florida, one he had asked me to sign on months before, to exercise power of attorney for him. I am a trustee for my older brother's estate. Mystery solved!

In heaven's banking system, our Older Brother has left an account to us in His name. He has on deposit untold riches awaiting distribution. How do we know this? Because of repeated references found in the New Testament to "the riches of Christ's grace." Paul mentions withdrawals from Jesus‚ bank account in Philippians 4:19. "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Material resources are already allocated to partners in the mission, those with a heart for extending Christ's kingdom. (See vs. 1:5, 4:15) This apostolic promise has a basis in fact which is still true. It is not an empty promise. The riches are very real, but stored in a realm accessed only by revelation. God's riches are "according to" something-according to the surplus, the super-abundance, of Christ's glory and grace.

Checks drawn on the bank of heaven require two signatures: one written by grace in Jesus‚ handwriting and sealed on the cross, the other written by faith by our own petition and profession. The faith is on our part, the grace is on God's part. Cashing the check requires agreement between God and man in order to release the riches of heaven into our human situation.

But-- a fundamental shift must occur before we can be trusted with riches. We must move from the attitude of ownership to thinking and behaving like trustees. A trustee doesn't own anything-- all they do is administer the estate according to the will of the owner. A change of heart necessarily precedes a change of circumstances. To hasten that change, God permits painful ordeals.

The season we are in is a perilous time. It is a season of shaking, sifting, and sorting. Nothing will escape scrutiny. God has initiated this period of time to help examine His house that is under construction before permitting its completion. The shaking is external, of structures and foundations. (Haggai 2:7, Luke 21:25) This hits our economic and political bases, plus our religious worldview. Everything that can be shaken will be shaken. (Heb. 12:26) Everything with a false foundation will be shaken. God is shoving the house back onto the foundation He built. We have mistakenly built the church on a false foundation. We have learned the kingdom doesn't end with establishing denominations and pastors trying to do the work alone. God wants us to build on Christ as the chief cornerstone, and on the foundation of apostles and prophets. (Eph. 2:20)The sifting is internal. The light hits our motives and methods. God wants to adjust our ways. (Haggai 1:5) Get away from religious ways and into apostolic ways. Don't just change churches or methods- change your ways. This is reflective transformation. We behold Him, and become like Him. Deep change does not occur without pain. This can be an excruciating ordeal. It can seem to last for an eternity. God seems silent, like He has abandoned us. In the sifting, we come to see the truth about ourselves. Do we really love the Lord? Do we love one another? Is our faith the real thing? Jesus told Peter "Satan has desired to sift you, but- I have prayed for you-" I am glad that "but" is there! Yes, sifting is permitted. Why? To do us good in the end (Deut. 8:16), to humble our hearts, to purify our motives so we can handle holy things. (Malachi 3:3) Testing lets us see our self and adjust our ways. Afterwards, we can truly repent. The Lord Jesus is interceding for us during our trial. (Heb. 4:14-16) Peter was boastful until his ordeals refined him, but he had to keep his faith intact even while failing the test.The sorting is based on assignments, according to our anointed function in the body of Christ and new identity in Jesus -- into churches, networks, or teams. We get grouped according to divine calling and our response to it. This includes sorting by gifts, by degree of revelation, and by levels of obedience. God has the right to deploy us according to the need for workers. How do we get sorted? Basically, by the obedience of faith. Do we listen to God's word to criticize it or to hear and obey it? Do we see present-day truth or cling to a familiar old order? Do we believe what God said or do we dwell in doubt? Are we people-pleasing priests or faithful sons of Zadok? Are we wheat or tares, sheep or goats? Do we run to the light or run from it? Do we have extra oil or is our lamp empty? Do we follow Jesus or men's traditions? God's grace always demands a response on our part. In one sense, we sort ourselves into categories of usefulness or idleness, becoming vessels of honor or dishonor, until we become set in our ways and the sorting is finished. "He that is holy, let him be holy still. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still." (Rev. 22:11) The goal is more of Jesus on earth, Christ Incorporated. The shaking will affect many things we have relied upon. Many hearts will fail for fear as they endure sifting. Transition times are always turbulent as individuals and people groups are sorted into camps. This global upheaval will also shake loose incredible wealth for building God's house and extending the borders of the gospel. (For more on this prophetic season of fresh foundations, read Haggai and Zechariah.)

This is a season when it is vitally important for finances to flow into foundational offices. The architects of a new age need to be fully funded in order for them to do their work. The construction money sitting in the bank needs to be drawn down by the contractors. Riches need to be released, not hoarded. Wealth for the work is on the way! So by faith I continue to confess, even while feeling absolutely foolish as I say it, that our ministry of Touched by Grace will handle millions of dollars for missions. I am not boasting-I am just saying to you what I believe I have heard the Holy Spirit say to me.

How can I confess such a preposterous thing? I must feel like old Abraham as he was telling his friends "Sarah and I are going to have a baby!" Can you imagine how foolish he looked to believe such a thing, let alone declare it? (See Romans 4) If you knew our present circumstances, you would say I was a fool to have such outlandish hope. Yet I believe God. Yes, while we wait on God, things may look bleak. Meanwhile, in the middle of the journey, we have learned to say with the apostle Paul, "-I have learned to be content in whatever circumstance I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11-13)

Why would God be shifting wealth from the wicked to the righteous? He won't-- unless we become trustworthy stewards with a kingdom vision and a heart of mercy toward the poor. Assuming that there are such people becoming qualified, then here is the great reason why: The Father is intent on finishing the House He began building for Jesus 2,000 years ago. Unlike carnal contractors who lack wisdom, God never starts a project that He can't finish. He counted the cost before He began to build. If He did run out of gold, He could always make more!

Succinctly stated, the funds are flowing because it is time for them to flow. God's work requires it. Jesus wants His inheritance to be released on earth. The harvest is ripe and the laborers are few. When Lana and I left South Africa earlier this year to return to America, the last man of God we spoke to in Johannesburg was an 88-year-old former missionary to the Congo who had married the granddaughter of Smith Wigglesworth. As he bade us farewell, he said to us, "You will be back because the time is short and the need is urgent." For him, the race was already run, but he knew the work was not yet done.

When King David was near death, the time came to prepare for transition. Leadership transition is tricky at best. Yet the kingdom of God is designed to be multi-generational. The work is always greater than what we can do in one lifetime. David recognized the need for the next generation to take over but he also knew Solomon was inexperienced. (1 Chronicles 29:1) So he did what fathers ought to do, he laid up provisions for his son's success. David gave so extravagantly toward the completion of God's house that the people adopted the same spirit of liberal giving. (1 Chronicles 29:9)

When this miracle of grace happened and riches were released to finish the Temple, David began to pray a powerful prophetic utterance. Here are his words: "Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone." (1 Chronicles 29:11-12)

God's kingdom rules over everything, including businesses and enterprises that make jobs and create wealth. God doesn't confine Himself to Sunday activities. He is head over all. God can give riches and honor to strengthen anyone He wishes in order to achieve His will. Do you believe this?

A similar miracle of supply happened when Israel returned from captivity and began to rebuild the Temple. That was when Zechariah and Haggai prophesied. Listen to these words: "Thus says the Lord of Hosts, Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, to the end that the temple might be built." (Zechariah 7:9)

He addressed the need for strong hands (the apostolic builders who marshal the resources and the people so the work can come together) and hearing the words that encourage the builders (the prophetic architects who see the heavenly blueprint and describe what they see), for the foundation to be laid, and the house to be built. The beginning of the laying of the foundation is a sovereign signal that the entire house will be built. Jesus said, "I will build my church!" That church, when it is finished, will overcome the forces of hell.

A similar miracle of giving happened when the early church was growing so fast that the new community of faith had to raise funds to care for people. Believers sold their extra houses and lands and laid the proceeds at the apostles‚ feet. They trusted their leaders with wealth when they saw the wonderful care being given to the poor. (Acts 4:32-35)

The house that God is building has greater glory than the first Temple. (Haggai 2:9) It will be built with wealth shaken loose from the nations (Haggai 2:7). It will be made of living stones, redeemed people like you and me who are saved from every tribe and tongue and nation. (1 Peter 2:5) How can God do this? Because "The silver is Mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of Hosts." (Haggai 2:8) God isn't broke!

The greatest riches are not yet on earth, but are held in reserve in glory awaiting access by the obedient-- those who love Jesus and keep His word. Whenever I give special offerings, I celebrate and I say, "There's more where that came from!" I know my source is heavenly, not earthly. I cheerfully give generously because God isn't broke. There are abundant resources available for those who affiliate themselves with "David's Company," the end-time reformers teaming up with Christ's ministry team. (Eph. 4:11) Their faith and vitality is replacing the stagnant Saul-system still lingering in these last days. They encourage the builders. They don't weaken the workers. They don't rob from the ministers. They put their hand to the plow and don't look back. There is where God commands the blessing, in that place of harmonious commitment and aggressive faith.

Where is the blessing? In symbolic language: there, in the corner of the house, the "knitted-together" place of the three-fold cord, the junction of the load-bearing beams, the safety vault concealed beneath the garments hidden in the secret prayer closet, the private place where apostles and prophets join in partnership to each other and to Jesus our cornerstone and our chief apostle. Here, the treasure is both stored and released for our welfare and for our work.

These lavish heavenly grants disbursed from heaven's storehouse are especially available for businessmen and businesswomen who serve God's kingdom by using their faith and grace in the market place of ideas and commerce, who have faith for seed to increase.

Teams Work

God is creating a new business class, Kingdom Entrepreneurs, like the "beloved physician" (Dr. Luke) who travelled with the apostle Paul. They will partner with last-days ministries to impact nations. They will team up to contribute their gifts and to model the message of the kingdom. They understand that God's covenant to create wealth is not just for their own enrichment. (To learn more, read Deuteronomy 8, Proverbs 8, and 2 Corinthians 8.) God has a special anointing to create wealth. God is giving ideas, opportunities, and key team players to business people of faith in order to extend His kingdom. These "Business Warriors" will work with the "Word Workers" to push back darkness with the gospel. Business owners will team up with apostles or prophets or teachers to serve pastors or evangelists in cell groups or congregations or city churches.

It takes a team to reach a city. Cities are the gateway to nations. Teams can do what individuals can't. Business owners can go where preachers can't. Teams are assigned tasks by God. They are Mission-Oriented, not Maintenance-Oriented. In this sense, they are more apostolic than pastoral. A new type of flexible and mobile team is forming with diversity of gifts and clarity of purpose, bigger than our old notion of church, but inclusive of a reformed vision. It will include workers who don't wear church robes.

All work is holy if it is done unto the Lord. Everyone is called to a vocation, only in different fields of labor for the glory of God. Find your purpose and you will find your place. Not all grace-gifts are designed to function within religious settings. This activating empowerment to create wealth will augment talent and dedication with divine favor. Why? Three reasons: because extravagant honor is due King Jesus; because gospel work requires abundant finances; and because the poor are crying out for help.

In heaven, we won't need wealth, since the streets are paved with gold (Rev. 21:21). But here and now we need abundance in order to do God's will. We are commanded to pray for money, for our needs to be met. (Matt. 6:11) Wealth is a form of power. God is empowering teams of witnesses in order to take the riches of Christ to the poor of the earth. That's why the world's wealth formerly held by the wicked is suddenly shifting toward the righteous. (Prov. 13:22) We are in a new and startling season. God has begun to enter into judgment with the stewards of wealth, shaking loose the unsanctified gold and making it holy to the Lord. (James 5:1-11) Hear the lament of the prophet Jeremiah: "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you." (Jeremiah 49:16) Money matters to God. God keeps good books. Warning: Your checkbook and receipts may be used as evidence against you in the court of heaven.

Having wealth is not a sin: in fact, if you obey God's word, it is hard not to prosper! But, as we grow older in our walk with the Lord, as God teaches us His ways, the sins that tempt us become subtler yet the consequences of disobedience become more serious.

Wealth May be Dangerous

As with any topic, Scriptures can be taken out of context or truth can be repeated in part without adequate safeguards thus making the immature stumble. Money issues can be a cause of stumbling. Let me set some parameters to my doctrine lest you think I am naïve. I know God loves poor people. (Matt. 5:3) He expects us to help the poor. (Matt. 6:2) He warns us to not accumulate wealth, but to quickly distribute it (Matt. 6:19-21) I know many servants of God have suffered and have never seen prosperity. God has not forgotten them and they will be rewarded. I know many people live in dire circumstances where war or corruption or famine or failure of fathers to stay with their families makes life tough. I know God sometimes puts His chosen people (especially future leaders) through the trial of insufficiency in order to shape their character and test their faith. These issues are real. The bottom line is this: suffering from poverty may prove our faith, but it is intended to be a temporary state, not a routine condition. Poverty is not a blessing, but a curse. (For more on this topic, see my book "Thief in the Storehouse" available on our website.) Jesus warned us not to seek after wealth for its own sake, that covetousness could get a grip on our heart and cause us to commit idolatry. (Matt. 6:24)

Wealthy people run the risk becoming lawless, ignoring moral absolutes and ethical constraints. The headlines tell how a few corporate executives cook the books to fake the profits then use (secret) stock options to steal from the firm's investors and thus destroy the little man's hopes of retirement. This is greed and a sin. Famous athletes or celebrities commit serial adultery while soaking in affluence or arrogance. Politicians elected to serve the people think of their term in office as their personal turf and fight to keep power rather than stand on godly principles for the greater good. Even priests are now being shielded from the consequences of sexual abuse and depravity. Right and wrong are blurred. Greed is justified. Lies are tolerated. Sin only counts when you get caught. Really? This is wicked! (See Malachi 3:5) God requires repentance and righteousness of men and women, businesses and bankers, and nations and leaders.

If we fail to see that God has blessed us for a higher purpose than our personal peace and prosperity, we will fall into pride, deception, and moral depravity. Wealth, apart from abiding in Christ and embracing the cross, has a way of blinding those who possess it.

Money is a Heart Issue

Blessed are the "poor in spirit." Even if you are fabulously wealthy, by God's grace you can be humble. You can make your wealth serve God rather than you serve your wealth. Remember, God loves the poor. And so do His genuine leaders. Christ was rich but He became poor. Why? So we could be made rich! (2 Cor. 8:9) God wants us to prosper as our soul prospers. (3 John 2) Why? So we can enjoy the blessing of giving! Our attitude should be as Christ's, that of blessing, giving, empowering, releasing. If you can be satisfied with sufficiency for yourself so you can have abundance for God's work, then you will be made rich in every way. (See 2 Cor. 9:10-11 NIV) This is especially true for those who help the poor in Jesus‚ name. God has chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to become heirs of His kingdom. (James 2:5)

In the last days, just as in the first days, the Bible says the kings of the earth will bring their gold as tribute to honor the Lord. (Rev. 21:24) Jesus is worthy to receive wealth! What will He do with it? The same thing He did while on earth- give most of it away to aid the poor. Jesus was a giver. Judas was a thief. Whose nature do you have?

Most people still see Jesus as poor and powerless. The writer of Hebrews says we can see Him crowned with glory and honor! (Heb. 2:9) Which way do you now see Him? I sat in a meeting in Thomasville, Georgia, about 1990. At that time I was pastor of a Baptist church in Florida that was becoming a Spirit-filled church. What fun we had! What battles we endured! In this conference as I listened to a man of God begin to preach, I heard the Spirit say clearly, "Every crown in its first appearing is a crown of thorns." Immediately I pictured Jesus whipped, spat on, stripped, and mocked prior to being crucified. What was the object of ridicule? Two things: His identity and His authority. But He endured in obedience to the Father and was crowned to the applause of heaven!

Crowns symbolize power and authority to rule. Intercessors can be crowned as they prevail in prayer. We are in a new day in God, when there has come a union of peace between two offices, that of apostles and prophets. That unique union of matured workers, as they join in prayer, will become the place of crowning with silver and gold and jewels. (Zechariah 6:13) This united team in its two-fold function can both branch out and build up through their grace gifts. Prophets will become conduits of abundant blessings to apostles, and vice versa. Synergy occurs when we combine our efforts and achieve more than we could alone. God will forever withhold from us in our independence what He will freely reveal and release to us in our unity. Unity requires the recognition of our need for one another and mutual respect for each other's gifts.

Money inflates egos and hardens hearts and thereby causes problems. Money has to be ruled over or it will rule over you. Too much money or too little money both cause serious temptation. The biggest danger is not external abundance but internal poverty. It is not wealth that destroys a man, but what wealth uncovers: the lack of internal integrity. Money is neutral but the love of money gives the devil power over your life. Money doesn't corrupt: it can only reveal the corruption concealed in your heart.

Money gives you power to act out your sin or fulfil your God-given dream. Which will it do to you? In Luke 19, a story is told of servants given riches. It was when their master entrusted them with wealth and departed to receive his kingdom that they began to act like selfish owners instead of stewards. These servants declared, "We do not want this man to reign over us." When they were poor, they were content to respect his authority to rule them. (Luke 19:14) But riches enticed them to behave as independent rulers rather than obedient servants. Which are you? More people reject God's authority over their lives regarding money than any other issue, with sexual indulgence being a close second.

Remember Zaccheus? He climbed a tree to see Jesus. Jesus went home to his house for dinner. But it was only when he said he would give away money and restore to anyone he had defrauded that Jesus declared, "Today salvation has come to this house!" (Luke 19:1-9) Zaccheus showed the fruit of repentance. Our use of money manifests whether we have truly entered the kingdom of God or just had a ride in a religious simulator.

Remember the rich young ruler? It was his failure to give it away that caused him to turn away from the kingdom of God. (Luke 18:18-27) By so doing, he may have forfeited his chance to become an apostle. In America, every teenager is a rich young ruler compared to the rest of the world. Daily, we all decide whether we will have God's grace and glory or this world's gleaming, alluring gold ruling in our heart.

The Fire of God

Now we come to the reason why God allows good people on the way toward finding and fulfilling their destiny to undergo the refining fire of trials, tribulations, and tests.

Character deficiencies set the stage for corruption in financial affairs. Just like powerful spiritual gifts can operate through immature believers or undisciplined ministers to their own hurt, so riches can come to the selfish or unruly and ultimately destroy them. What we gain with our gifts we can destroy with our character. God wants integrity.

Solomon said, "Humility comes before honor." (Prov. 15:33) If humility doesn't come first, honor will only lead to your downfall. Humility is not a feeling of worthlessness. Rather, it is respect for your place in the universe. It is submitting to God's order even when it is costly. It is keeping your word, showing honor to your spouse, staying true to your calling, and respecting your boundaries. Humility is integrity in your heart that can be observed by righteousness in your actions. Humility has fruit. Real fruit tastes sweet.

It was the mercy of God to put Joseph in prison before elevating him to rule in Egypt. Prison and unfair treatment prepared him to rule as a steward. A prince who rules without first learning humility will be a tyrant. An inheritance gained hurriedly in the beginning will not be blessed in the end. Most lottery ticket winners are broke a year later. They lacked the character, the skills, or the discipline to handle their blessings.

Today, many of God's servants have been enduring years of testing, false accusations, rejection by their brethren, insurmountable obstacles, pressure from within and from without, denials and delays without rational explanation, all to one noble end: to refine and purify their hearts, their faith, and their motives so they can be worthy to wear the kingly robes God has prepared for them in the day of accelerated grace and elevation to authority in servant-leadership.

God needs trustees who won't mishandle their "once in a lifetime opportunity" in this day of wealth creation. These trustees are disciples, servants and workers, willing to follow Jesus into poverty or prosperity with equal delight if only they may see the true riches of heaven.

Anyone who has seen heaven's true riches will trade all earthly goods for one more glimpse of that which is eternal: the revelation of Jesus in all His glory, the privilege of taking His good news and great mercy to the poor, the honor of knowing and doing His will and giving away His life-giving love while we have time.

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Ron and Lana Wood attended Southeastern Bible College in Lakeland, Florida where they studied missions. They have served as pastors for over thirty years. They now lead Touched by Grace, Inc., a missionary organization serving the Body of Christ by equipping emerging leaders. Their base of operations is the coastal city of Wilmington, North Carolina, where their home church is The Rock of Wilmington led by apostle Ron McGee. If you are in this area, we invite you to visit with us and to enjoy the powerful worship and preaching ministry of The Rock.

Touched by Grace is a 501-c-3 corporation dedicated to extending the gospel of Christ by humanitarian relief, by biblical training materials and overseas seminars, and by strategic investment in the work of key Christian leaders serving on the frontiers of God's kingdom.

To partner with us on a monthly basis or to make a one-time donation, please send your tax-deductible contribution to: Touched by Grace, P. O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA.

We are touched by grace to touch the world!

Passion for Jesus

2002-11-20T11:47:00.000-05:00

I first heard Jack Deere speak in Kansas City many years ago. His anointed gift as a teacher was very much in evidence. I appreciate the fact that he allies himself with prophets. He doesn’t "go it alone." When someone addresses foundational issues, they should not be independent. Teachers have a special gift to explain the Word of God and yet at the same time, should not originate new doctrine. The Bible says the church is built on the foundation of apostles and prophets. These ministries are the kitchen where doctrine comes from — teachers are the waiters who serve it on the table for the benefit of the Church. (Ephesians 2:20) When we need to be grounded in God’s word, no one can do the job like an anointed teacher!

This article was sent to me by Alison Papenfus of South Africa, a friend to Lana and myself. She hosts a list serving intercessors for Africa. (www.africaprophecy.co.za) That’s how I first became acquainted with her even before Lana and I lived in Johannesburg. We shared at the Bible School where Alison is a respected teacher regarding prophetic ministry.

Foreword by Alison Papenfus

Jack Deere was a reformed evangelical theologian teaching in a distinguished seminary (Dallas Theological Seminary, Professor of Old Testament) in the US. God gloriously filled him with the Holy Spirit and knit his heart with John Wimber, with whom he ministered for years. He is the Author of "Surprised by the Power of the Spirit" and "Surprised by the Voice of God" - both of which are excellent reads for prophetic people. This article picks up a theme which is vital if the church is to move into the next phase of God's purposes at this time.
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PASSION FOR JESUS

Almost any Christian can tell you what the greatest commandment of all is - to love God with all your heart, soul, and mind (Matt 22 36-40). We all know this is the greatest commandment. But are we really taking it seriously? It is so easy to think that we are loving Jesus when in reality we are loving something else.

Getting sidetracked

When I was converted at 17 years of age, I had no religious or church background of any kind. Immediately, I fell in love with the Lord Jesus. I began to devour His word. I talked to Him constantly. I witnessed to every one of my non-Christian friends again and again. I was so overzealous that I lost all but two of my friends. This loss didn't affect me that much because I was so in love with Jesus that nothing else really mattered to me. I also loved my new church. In fact, every time the doors were open I was present.

After about a year, the original passion I had for the Lord Jesus began to fade somewhat. I couldn't point to the day or hour when it happened nor could I give you a reason for it, but something was definitely different. The passion that I had had for Jesus had subtly but surely been transferred to my denomination.

In our church we talked a lot about our denomination and how proud we were of it. It became difficult for me to understand why all true Christians wouldn't want to be a part of my denomination. I also remember thinking that my church was perhaps the best church in the whole denomination. I don't think that I ever loved my denomination too much nor my church too much. The problem was that I loved Jesus too little in comparison with my church. Deception like this occurs so slowly and is so subtle that it is almost impossible to see while you're trapped by it. Eventually I repented of putting my church ahead of Jesus. The cold self-righteousness left me and I fell in love with Christ afresh.

Later I got sidetracked again in my quest to cultivate passion for the Lord Jesus. In the process of getting theologically trained and becoming a seminary professor, I developed an intense passion for the precise study of the Word of God. Before I knew it, it happened to me again. I found myself loving the Bible more that I loved the Author of the Bible. I was caught in this trap for more years than I like to remember. Again, the problem was not that I loved the Bible too much. It was that I loved Jesus too little in comparison with the Bible. I had put the Bible over the Lord Jesus, much like the Pharisees had put the law and their traditions above God. It is possible to make this mistake with almost anything. We can put other people or even various forms of ministry - witnessing, caring for the poor, praying for the sick, etc. - above the Lord Jesus Christ. I have often seen people confuse loving Jesus with doing ministry. It's even possible to love the Christian life more than Jesus. There is a sense of security and purpose that comes from being surrounded by Christians and having a lifestyle that our friends approve of. Christian fellowship is wonderful but some have more affection for that than for Jesus himself.

Cultivating passion

More than anything else, passion for the Son of God has to be guarded and cultivated or we will lose it. I find that almost every good thing in my life is all too ready to compete for my time and intimacy with the Son of God.

I have begun praying a prayer that has done more to generate passion in my heart for the Lord Jesus than anything I have ever done before. This prayer is found within what is perhaps the greatest prayer in all of the Bible. I am referring to the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus in John chapter 17. I have turned the last verse of that prayer into my own personalized prayer. "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." (John 17:26 NKJV)

Jesus said that He had declared the name of the Father to His disciples, that is, He showed them what the Father was like. He did this for one overriding purpose. Jesus wanted His disciples to love Him like His heavenly Father loved Him. He wants the love that His Father has for Him to be in His disciples. I read this verse many times before I really saw it. The first time I actually understood what Jesus was saying I found it difficult to believe. How could I love Jesus like God the Father loves His very own Son?

Of course no one can love anyone to the same degree or quality that God loves them. But on the other hand, neither can we be as holy as God, yet God says to us, "You shall be holy for I am holy." It is through the power of His Spirit in us that we can walk in holiness. By that same power, we can live our lives with a consuming passion for our Lord. The Father loves the Son more than anyone or anything else. He is devoted to the Son. His eyes never leave the Son. All that the Father does He does for the Son. Jesus
prayed that we would be driven by that same single-eyed passion.

Is obedience enough?

Some people minimize our need for passion for Jesus. They tell us that our feelings aren't really important as long as we walk in obedience. Obedience is wonderful, but the problem with this definition is that you can do the right thing without loving the Son of God very much at all. A son can obey his father for reward or for fear of punishment, and actually neither like nor love his father much at all. A husband can be a faithful and kind provider to his wife without having much love or passion for his wife. What wife would settle for a relationship like that? Why do we think God would be willing to settle for an obedience that is not accompanied by a consuming passion for His Son? After all, isn't the greatest commandment to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?

If you look at the heroes of our faith, you'll find that they are men and women who were not only full of good works but were consumed by passion for God. The apostle Paul was so consumed by his affection for the Lord Jesus Christ that he came to the point in his life where living simply meant Christ to him - "For me, to live is Christ." (Philippians 1:21 NIV) This kind of complete devotion is meant not only for the apostles.

Martha's sister Mary had this kind of passion for Jesus. She wasn't an apostle or leader; but the Son of God had great prominence in her heart. When Jesus was around she couldn't bear to think of food or any other necessities in life. All she wanted to do was sit at His feet and listen to Him (Luke 10:38 ff.). Moreover, Jesus loved being around Mary. When the time for His last Passover drew near and He knew that He only had six days before the cross, where do you think He chose to spend those six days? He went to
Mary's house (John 12:1 ff.).

It's not at all difficult to see what drew Him to Mary's house. While He was there, in the presence of all the disciples, Mary brought out a jar of costly perfume. This perfume probably represented her life savings or her wedding dowry. She broke it and poured it on Jesus. She wasted the most precious possession she had on the Lord Jesus. She did this out of her extravagant affection for Him. She was going to pour out her whole life on the Lord. There was no mediocrity in her feelings for the Him. She was a woman consumed by a holy passion for the Son of God.

Passion moves Jesus

That passion, however, is a sword that cuts both ways. Jesus also had great affection for Mary. When Mary's brother Lazarus died, Jesus came to their home four days later. Martha was the first to greet the Lord Jesus. She said to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Jesus responded to Martha by giving gone of the greatest theological teachings in all the Word of God: "I am the resurrection and the life." When Mary met the Lord Jesus just a few moments later; she said exactly the same words that Martha said, "Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died." (John 11:17-38) However; when Mary said these words, Jesus wept and then He walked to the tomb and raised Mary's brother from the dead. A person like Martha could get a great theological teaching out of Jesus. A person like Mary could break His heart and move Him to raise someone from the dead. People who have Mary's passion for the Lord Jesus can move Him in a way that others can't. How do you get that kind of passionate love for Jesus?

Time to know Him

There are three simple but indispensable things we must do. First, we can't love a person whom we don't know. Therefore, we must set aside time to get to know the Lord Christ. If we do not spend time meditating in His Word, talking with Him, and listening to Him, we will never progress very far in acquiring passion for Him.

We must set aside a regular time for personal meditation in the scriptures and prayer. We must never allow this time to become mechanical or ritualistic. We must remember that it is possible to read the Bible like a Pharisee and never hear the voice of God (John 5:37). It is possible to let our prayer time degenerate into nothing more than taking a shopping list to God.

In our regular times of personal meditation and prayer we must remind ourselves that the purpose is to meet with a real Person. This Person speaks, guides, encourages, reveals, convicts, rebukes, discloses himself, hides himself, gets angry, can be grieved, and can rejoice. In that meeting we are capable of making Him angry or making Him rejoice. These are the things that scripture teaches us about the God with whom we relate.

We are taught from the beginning of our conversion about the importance of spending time with Him. The problem isn't that we don't know it, the problem is that we don't do it.

Remove barriers

The second thing that is absolutely essential is the removal of barriers between us and the Lord Jesus. Our sins create a barrier between us and Jesus so that we cannot come into His presence and grow in our love and knowledge of Him. These barriers are removed when we confess our sins and God forgives us. One of the most important teachings on forgiveness is found in I John 1:9: "If we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We all know this, but all too often we don't really believe it. It is sinful to live under condemnation and guilt. Too many of us confess sins and never feel forgiven because we are really not trusting in the power of His blood to forgive us of those sins. We will never be holy enough, disciplined enough, or anything else enough to get into His presence apart from the blood of His Son. Our good works, reformed lives, and best intentions will never take away the guilt of sin. The only thing that the Father has given us to take away sin and guilt is the blood of His Son.

Ask for passion

The third thing that we must do to acquire passion for the Son of God is to consistently ask for it, to labor for it in prayer. This is where John 17:26 comes in. As I said earlier, I have paraphrased John 17:26 and turned it into my own personal prayer. I pray it like this: "Father, grant me an impartation of the Holy Spirit to love the Son of God like You love Him." I pray this in the morning when I get up; I pray it during the day when my mind slips into neutral; and I pray it when I fall asleep at night. My heart has been captured by this prayer. When I pray it, I am confessing to God that if He does not grant to me a work of the Holy Spirit in my life, I will never acquire passion for the Son of God. I am confessing to Him that my godliness, my discipline, my knowledge of the Word, though all good, are alone insufficient to produce passion for the Son of God. I can change my mind but only the Holy Spirit can change my heart. It is the task of the Holy Spirit to "shed abroad the love of God in our hearts" (Romans 5:5). Divine love can only be divinely imparted.

Most of my Christian life I've been making the same mistake over and over and over. I keep putting my confidence in my discipline, in my good intentions, in my knowledge of the Bible, in order to produce love for God. I always end up in legalism and self-righteousness when I do this. One day the Lord interrupted all of this. He said to me, "If you ever hear me say to you, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant,' it won't be because you were a good follower, it will be because my Son is a good leader. Put your confidence in His ability to lead, not in your ability to follow."

That divine revelation pierced my heart. I realized why passion-robbing legalism and self-righteousness were able to consistently get such strongholds in my life. I'm not saying that we don't need discipline, or knowledge of the Bible, or godly behavior - we do. Nor am I saying that we're to be passive and simply let God do it all. I'm talking about our attitude and our confidence. We must do the right things but never put our confidence in our ability to do those things. Our hearts are incredibly prone to deception (Jeremiah 17:9) and our feet are equally prone to wander off the path of righteousness (Romans 3:10 ff.). In light of this, how could we trust in our ability to follow Jesus?

I've come to realize that passion for the Son of God can't be earned. It comes because He gives it as His greatest and most gracious gift. And after all, isn't that how the greatest things come to us, as gifts? James says, "You have not because you ask not." (James 4:2) The greatest gifts that God has to give us are ours for the asking. I encourage you, from this day forward, to spend more time in your prayer life asking God to grant you passion for the Son of God than you do asking Him for anything else. Our confidence must always be in His willingness and ability to impart to us passion for his Son.

If you begin to pray this prayer on a regular basis, passion for the Son of God will begin to permeate your heart. It may take you months, even years, before you notice a significant difference. In fact, you will probably never be able to point to the day or the hour when you began to be consumed with passion for the Son of God, but others will notice. They'll say you've changed; you seem different. They'll say there's a kindness, a gentleness in you they hadn't noticed before. There's an infectious quality in your love for the Son of God that didn't seem to be there before, and they'll want to know what you've been doing.

Don't be passive about acquiring passion for the Son of God. Make it the focus of your life. Put your eyes on the Son of God and leave them there (Hebrews 12:1 ff.), and you will find yourself becoming like Him. You'll find yourself falling in love with Him as you ask God day after day to consume you with passion for His glorious Son. And that passion, as it begins to occupy your heart, will conquer a thousand sins in your life. You will begin to love what He loves and hate what He hates.

The best friends of Jesus

Among the women in the Bible, I think that Mary is the one who most exemplifies this passion for the Son of God. Among the men, it would have to be the apostle John. John is called "the disciple whom Jesus loved." The Living Bible refers to John as "Jesus' closest friend." (John 13:23). That's a great translation. I love it. John was always the one of the three disciples that was permitted to be on the "inside," but of the three, he was the closest to Jesus and everyone knew it.

As Jesus was hanging on the cross, He looked out on a universe from which every visible trace of God seemed to have disappeared. All but one of His disciples had deserted him. Only John and four women were standing at the foot of the cross. Jesus looked down and saw His mother. Who would take care of her now? His brothers? The apostles? No, they had all deserted Him. It's as though He looked at John and said in His spirit, "John, no one else will do for my mother" Then out loud for all to hear He said, "Woman, behold our son." And then to John, "Behold your mother." (John 19:26,27). John really was the best friend of the Lord Jesus. But John doesn't have to be the only one who is his best friend.

We all have only one brief hour on the earth and then we will stand before the Lord Jesus to give an account of our lives. Why not be like Mary and choose the best part, the one necessary thing, so that we can stand before Him in confidence on that day? The heart of the Lord Jesus is big enough to accommodate many, many more best friends and many, many more Marys. Why would you want to settle for any less?

Dr. Jack Deere taught at Dallas Theological Seminary for 11 years, then served as associate pastor at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Anaheim, California. While based in California he traveled with John Wimber and Paul Cain in a conference ministry. Jack, his wife Leesa, and three children are presently living in Fort Worth, Texas. He devotes his time to writing and a national and international conference ministry with Paul Cain.

This article may be duplicated free of charge for distribution to your friends. Please include this byline and also the introduction and foreword. For helpful articles relating to Christian growth, visit our web site at www.touchedbygrace.org.

Address all correspondence to: P. O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA. Touched by Grace Inc. is a 501-c-3 U.S. non-profit missionary organization devoted to expanding Christ’s kingdom through the gospel by equipping emerging apostles in developing nations and by providing humanitarian aid to the poor. Your tax-deductible donations are welcome and appreciated. We are touched by grace to touch the world!

Prophets and Seers

2002-11-20T11:46:00.000-05:00

I am blessed to know John Paul Jackson personally. I have been around him for several special events. Several years ago when I was still pastoring we had the privilege of hosting him in a special conference on prophecy. After serving as a pastor for thirty years, and being used of God in a small measure of prophetic grace, I have seen the flaky, the counterfeit, and the genuine.

I appreciate John Paul’s balanced teaching, his mature perspective on the prophetic ministry, and his gracious operation of his gift. I consider him to be a true prophet of God. As we see more such ministry by men and women, we will also see more of two things: candidates for this ministry and this office going through severe trials and fiery ordeals to refine their character; and the foundation of the church shifting toward its original base. If you happen to be around a prophet (or an apostle) being groomed by God, you may think you have never seen such a wilderness trail in all your life! God spares no expense, takes no shortcuts, and ignores cries of pain as He trains foundation ministries in His ways. They are a challenge to pastor and they need seasoned fathers in the faith to help equip them. Of course, in the end, it is only Jesus who can fully disciple and send forth His own prophets to His people.

Prophets are on the increase. They are one aspect of the ministry of Jesus that belongs in the church. They have a vital place in the world and an important role in the Church alongside the other five-fold Ascension gifts. (1 Corinthians 12:28, Ephesians 4:11) The Lord once told me to bear witness to three things: Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of the church, the Scriptures are the word which the Holy Spirit confirms with signs and wonders, and the restoration of contemporary apostles and prophets. Revelatory gifting is on the rise.

This particular article touches on one aspect of revelatory gifting, that is, "words of knowledge." This grace-gift from the Holy Spirit enables a believer to know information or details about someone that could only be revealed to them by God, something supernaturally known only by the Spirit. Getting insight from the Spirit is not all that strange. In the Bible, God speaks in dreams, visions, and by an inner "knowing" to His people all the time (and often to sinners as well). But we don’t usually recognize the source of information as being of the Lord.

What is new today is for leaders in the Body of Christ and members of the Church to begin learning how to handle prophetic gifting and the insight that God gives them in a mature and humble manner. Perhaps I should say "revelatory gifting," because the essence of being prophetic is hearing from God, not speaking for God. Everyone who knows Jesus can hear from God. Wisdom says don’t tell all you hear all the time. Sometimes God shows us things so we can intercede, or so we can continue loving someone without being surprised or offended at their sin, or so we can confidentially share our heavenly news-flash with leaders who are in position of responsibility and thus have the authority to do something about it.

Perhaps the greatest manifestation of revelatory gifting is yet to come to the Body of Christ. I believe it will reveal Christ in the Church and also outside the church walls to lost souls, for "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:10 NASB)

For example, when Jesus met the woman at the well in John 4, He knew by this gift in operation that she had been married five times. (It is interesting to note that Jesus had to first get His Twelve out of the way so He could evangelize this woman, since their prejudice against women and other ethnic groups had not yet fallen to the wayside like it did after Pentecost.) This divine knowledge about her life revealed by the Holy Spirit to Jesus uncovered her sin. Yet Jesus spoke the truth to her without condemnation in such a way that it broke down her resistance to knowing God and resulted in the salvation of her whole village.

When the gift of prophecy gets out of the church and into the streets, sinners won’t stand a chance! God’s truth ministered in love and humble wisdom will uncover the stumbling blocks that hinder peoples’ repentance and faith.

I believe the day will come when ordinary believers who are filled with the Holy Spirit and living in union with Jesus will manifest the word of knowledge in remarkable ways. It will become common in church for sin to be uncovered, not by ministers, but by ordinary disciples. In fact, the day will come when we will think that prophets who impress us with their words of knowledge today were mere children in the faith!

I am asking for this little gift to operate more in my life, the snippets of divine information that enable us to show people that God knows the details of their lives and truly cares for them. Twice, the Lord has given me peoples’ names. Once, it was to witness to a young waitress. Another time, it was to encourage me in a time of ministry overseas when I felt like I wasn’t hearing anything from God in my meetings. This little gift is needed more in the lives of Christians today.

Why doesn’t the Lord give more words of knowledge to more believers today? One reason is that as soon as we start getting revelation, we tend to get an exalted opinion of ourselves. We start to feel entitled to a title, and we think just because we heard some small secret revelation from God, we must be in the office of a prophet. Wrong! Hearing God is normal for all believers, a learned skill that can be cultivated, and is intended (at least to some measure or degree) for all of God’s children as we grow in faith and love and in the knowledge of the Lord.

Here are John Paul Jackson’s comments on revelatory gifting….

PROPHETS AND SEERS
By John Paul Jackson

Years ago, I considered anyone who had a revelatory gift to be a "prophet". I no longer believe this. Over the years, I have come into contact with many revelatory styles. I define these styles by the manner in which someone ministers, combined with their own God-given personalities.

During my 20-year tenure, I have observed many gifted revelatory people. I was delighted to discover how radically different they are from one another. Their differences are more than just a broad array of personalities or the way revelation is delivered. How a person receives revelation from God and the type of revelation they receive may vary from person to person. This makes for quite a potpourri of visual differences when watching how someone ministers or delivers a word from the Lord.

After reflecting on these various types and styles, I have come to understand that there are unique personalities as well as variations in the respective gifts of prophets and seers. Notice that I have not made a value statement, making one gift more valuable than another. Rather, they are two of many expressions within the revelatory arena.

Differences between prophets and seers seem to be more clearly distinguished in the Old Testament. However, the lack of distinction in the New Testament does not necessarily indicate they are the same. Instead, it may simply indicate the writers did not distinguish between prophets and seers, which may reflect a difference between the Hebrew and Greek mind-sets. The Greek language does not seem to recognize a difference between the two titles.

Since the Early Church, many believers in the West have failed to make a distinction between prophets and seers. At some point, the Church also stopped recognizing the title of a seer. In a similar way, they diminished the role of a prophet and failed to note the distinction between prophets and pastors, or even prophets and evangelists. Today, however, these perceptions are rapidly changing in many places around the world.

A STARTING POINT

As a starting point, I would like to suggest using the following three approaches. These steps will lay a biblical foundation for understanding these gifts. First, we need to approach the differences between prophets and seers through translating the original Hebrew words. Second, we need to approach the differences between prophets and seers by looking at the manner in which the titles are used. Third, we need to approach the differences between prophets and seers by looking at those who were given the titles and by trying to ascertain, whether or not their titles indicated differences in their respective functions.

WORD ORIGINS

Perhaps we should begin by looking at some of the Hebrew words translated in Scripture as "prophet" and "seer." The Strong's Concordance translates these as follows:

"SEER" Hebrew (7200, 7203, 2374, 2372)

-- Hebrew 7200: ra'ah, raw-aw'; to see, look, view; to realize, know, consider; to be selected; to become visible, appear, show oneself; to be seen; to cause to see, show; to be shown; to look at each other, meet with; a general word for visual perception.

-- Hebrew 7203: ro'eh, ro-eh'; a seer; vision.

-- Hebrew 2374: Chozeh, kho-zeh'; seer, one who receives a communication from God, with a possible focus that the message had a visual component; agreement.

-- Hebrew 2372: Chazah, khaw-zaw'; to see, to look, observe, gaze, by extension: to choose (one thing or another); to have visions, to prophesy.

"PROPHET" Hebrew (5030, 5012, 5197)

-- Hebrew 5030: nabiy', naw-bee'; a prophet (true or false).

-- Hebrew 5012: naba', naw-baw'; to prophesy, speak as a prophet; prophesy has its focus on encouraging or restoring covenant faithfulness, the telling of future events encourages obedience or warns against disobedience.

-- Hebrew 5197: nataph, naw-taf'; to pour down; gently fall, drip; to (drip words) preach, prophesy.

WORD USAGE

We also need to look at how the words are used. Many use the terms "seer" and "prophet" interchangeably. Furthermore, some believe that seers have not existed since the time of the Prophet Samuel (1150 B.C. - 1010 B.C.). They quote 1 Samuel 9:9: "(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: 'Come, let us go to the seer' for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer)".

However, this is a shortsighted point of view and creates a dilemma: Why does Scripture continue to make a distinction between prophets and seers after the era of Samuel?

I believe that seers and prophets continue to "co-exist" throughout Scripture. Both Gad, the seer, and Nathan, the prophet, served in King David's court (2 Samuel 24:4; 1 Chronicles 29:29). Asaph, the seer, and Isaiah, the prophet, were also contemporaries during King Hezekiah's reign (2 Chronicles 29:30; 2 Kings 20:1).

Therefore, I believe that 1 Samuel 9:9 implies that Samuel moved from functioning as a seer to functioning as a prophet. Or, more likely that Samuel fulfilled both the functions of a seer and a prophet!

In addition, there seems to be a difference even between those who functioned as "seers". In 1 Chronicles 29:29, the word "seer" is used twice, but it is not the same Hebrew word. "Now the acts of Kind David, first and last, indeed they are written in the book of Samuel the seer (7200), in the book of Nathan the prophet (5030), and in the book of Gad the seer (2374)" (1 Chronicles 29:29). Perhaps this indicates a difference in how Samuel and Gad received revelation from God.

Samuel had a wide variety of revelatory experiences, perhaps broader than Gad's. Samuel was gifted in visions, knowings, and dreams. He transcended time and geographic locality to watch events that were occurring simultaneously outside of his immediate geographic location. He knew who was coming to his door before the person arrived. He even predicted weather patterns (1 Samuel 12:17).

In contrast, Gad's revelatory gift was not as well documented. It is possible that he walked in the same level of prophetic gifting as Samuel, but there is no record of this. Scripture indicates that he carried the Lord's rebuke to David for numbering Israel (2 Samuel 24:11-13). He also helped arrange Levitical music (2 Chronicles 9:25), and apparently wrote a history book about David's reign (1 Chronicles 29:29).

Did people go to a seer more than to a prophet? It seemed to be common practice for the people of Israel to look to the seers for direction (1 Samuel 9:6-9). It was also common for them to bring the seer an offering for his livelihood (1 Samuel 9:7). There are also several instances where people went to the prophet for wisdom and direction from God.

In conclusion, prophets and seers still function today, as they did in biblical times. In fact we are seeing a worldwide renaissance in these types of revelatory gifts. Next month, I will offer deeper insights on these dynamic, re-emerging, and mysterious revelatory gifts.

To learn more about prophets and seers, please see John Paul Jackson's 6-tape series, PROPHETIC REFORMATION. You can order it online at http://www.streamsministries.com. Or, by calling our office toll-free (U.S. and Canada): 1-888-441-8080.

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13. QUESTIONS FOR JOHN PAUL JACKSON

QUESTION: Is humility and meekness the same thing?

JOHN PAUL JACKSON: Humility and meekness go hand in hand. Meekness is often overlooked because our focus is more often on trying to be humble. Meekness involves how you respond to others when they think that you are wrong. Meekness is how you lead others when they are totally dependent on you. But the best example of meekness is giving up the right to rule and the right to be right. Daily, the Lord is taking me to a place where I am learning that I don't have a right to be right. This is an attribute that I hope to see the Church grow in. The secret to growing in meekness involves giving up your need to be right. We don't have to be right. We do have to be broken.

QUESTION: I have been facing difficult trials lately. My friends have told me to be encouraged these difficulties are a good sign. Can you explain this to me?

JOHN PAUL JACKSON: Your friends are telling you the truth. This principle is one that is discussed in The Art of Hearing God classes. The depth of your battle is proportionate to the coming anointing you will receive from God. Anointing is basically spiritual influence in a natural world. Therefore, the battle we face actually predicts the coming influence we will walk in after the battle has concluded. What we tend to focus on, however, is the difficulty of the battle. The battle that we overcome creates stronger character that allows us to become better leaders. Therefore, if you don't quit, you win.

This article may be duplicated free of charge for distribution to your friends. Please include this byline and also the introduction by Ron Wood. For helpful articles relating to Christian growth, visit our web site at www.touchedbygrace.org.

Address all correspondence to: P. O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA. Touched by Grace Inc. is a 501-c-3 U.S. non-profit missionary organization devoted to expanding Christ’s kingdom through the gospel by equipping emerging apostles and prophets in developing nations and by providing humanitarian aid to the poor. Your tax-deductible donations are welcome and appreciated.

We are touched by grace to touch the world!

A New "Joseph Season"

2003-05-14T11:43:00.000-04:00

In a dream I saw a mob running on a bank. Frightened people were emptying bank accounts, tellers were trying to calm frantic customers grabbing for their cash, fearful of economic collapse, afraid their money was losing its value, scared that it would become inaccessible. With this disturbing scene lingering vividly in my mind, there came a word from the Lord to me regarding our new season. That word is illustrated by Joseph in Egypt and the two sevens he foresaw.

I believe the Lord was indicating to me that the Body of Christ has entered another Joseph Season. A new direction of God's grace has arrived-- a shift away from only church-centered ministry to inaugurating a new marketplace apostleship.

This carries opportunities but with caveats. Many will be confounded by it while others who are listening to God will rejoice in it. We need an adjustment of our spiritual prescription for our eyes of faith, a new envisioning capacity so we who know the Lord and want to discern the times can see into this new season with Biblical hope and not react against it, since the Lord is in charge of the seasons.

Our problem is lack of discernment, which leaves us unaware of the changing seasons. A big part of the Church is still looking at new things with "old eyes," trying to describe new things with old terminology, or naively using new words to "get on board" but still vainly proceeding out of a bygone vision that worked in a former era.

A Joseph Season means we are being carried where we didn't want to go by people we may not like into circumstances we have no control over toward a destiny we don't yet fully understand. A Joseph Season means getting outside our comfort zones, outside our restricted field of view, outside our own houses, and into the realm of real world activities like government and business to touch cities and nations that need saving. A Joseph Season means an opportunity for promotion into our divine purpose, if we keep our faith in the Lord and walk with integrity through our trials.

In the Bible, Joseph was a man who in his youth was marked by divine dreams. He was taken and sold as a slave by his own brothers who misunderstood him. In captivity, he endured testing of his integrity and of his faith by false accusations, by imprisonment, by broken trust, and by years of waiting. But he still had his dream from God, a word of promise that kept putting him to the test. Nothing tests us quite like illogical delays. Nothing builds character quite like persevering during trials, or enduring false accusations, or experiencing abandonment by brothers. Joseph was now enrolled in God's preparatory school· behind bars.

The season of the "dream being delayed" is vital to our future success. It is the season of refining our motives, crucifying our flesh, and preparing us in practical ways for the "dream causing delight." The test is part of the process of our preparation. Every opportunity in God is guarded by problems. "A wide door for effective service has been opened for me," Paul wrote the Corinthians, "and there are many adversaries." (1 Corinthians 16:9 NASB) We grow strong because we have to, because adversity comes our way. We increase in faith because we are stuck in unpleasant predicaments requiring more faith.

You see, it is not enough to be called or even anointed. We also have to be qualified. King David was called as a youth, but was years away from walking in the fulfillment of his destiny. We have to be mature, responsible, and equipped in order to come into our full inheritance without wasting it.

The trial of our faith is precious for two reasons: internally, it purifies our soul in ways nothing else can, and externally, it sets up a scenario where the court of heaven can righteously render a verdict in our favor not only restoring our hopes that had been deferred, but exacting a "pain and suffering" penalty far beyond the actual losses we incurred. We will win, and in the end, we will own everything the devil has ever taken.

Joseph had prophetic sensitivity. Revelatory people, when their souls are infused with God's breath, are able to discern spiritual realities. This requires practicing God's presence, having your "discerning senses" trained by exercise, knowing the Lord's visual language and imagery, and knowing the Bible backwards and forwards. (As my friend Leon Price used to say, "The Scriptures are the Holy Spirit's alphabet.")

Joseph had to pay attention while in prison. It is often quite a challenge for praying or prophetic people to avoid distractions, to stay on track, to keep in tune with God. My favorite Bible passage is John 15. God called me to preach using this passage about the vine and the branches. It speaks of the reward of abiding in Christ and of His word abiding in us. To abide means to stay in constant union, drawing life from the relationship. Staying connected keeps the channel of revelation open, like a radio dial carefully tuned to receive the broadcast. Sometimes the signal seems weak, so we have to silence the world around us to hear clearly.

We see this ability to hear from God manifested in Joseph when he discerned the meaning of other peoples‚ dreams. This tells us that while in prison, when circumstances were not very pleasant, when despair and bitterness were valid options for others, Joseph kept up his walk with God and guarded his heart. He prepared himself for greatness by being faithful in the most unlikely and difficult setting. That is not an easy thing to do!

Joseph used his gifting "outside the house." This is the next phase of prophetic development in the kingdom of God, as we move outside the house with God's grace and gifts. Joseph was able to serve a "heathen," an unbelieving boss. Can you do that? Like a similar counterpart, Daniel, another Biblical prophet who served under a foreign king, Joseph also knew there was a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. Joseph interpreted Pharaoh's dream about the cattle predicting abundance followed by austerity. Then he was appointed to take action.

There are many Josephs among us. Their gifts will not shine in the congregation. They won't major in Theology or teach Sunday school. But they might save a nation. Often rejected by those bound by traditions, often feeling like misfits for sharing their daring dreams, they will be put to the test by the very word they carry from God. That calling will lead them down a trail that will be unfamiliar to religious people, but God is in it.

Eventually, we will find these Josephs (male and female) not in a pulpit wearing religious robes, but in disguise, as it were, sitting in the math class, or learning in the business school, or laboring buried among the many workers in the office building. But their gifts will cause them to rise to greater stewardship and opportunity. The favor or the Lord will enable them to rule wisely in the midst of pagans for the benefit of those pagans as well as for their own covenant brothers and sisters in the Lord. They are secret agents of God's kingdom. If we are smart, we will cultivate their gifts, appreciate them early, and when they are ready (and we are ready), include them on our team.

In this Joseph Season, we have now entered a time when many believers walking in the Spirit (those followers of Jesus who are prophetically activated) have begun serving in their secular situations, knowing their steps are ordered of the Lord and their times are in His hand in order to eventually share in the riches for the sake of God's kingdom. In the end, if we are faithful, we will be running the business and a lot of the sinners we have served along the way will be saved.

In God, all vocations are holy when our work is done as unto the Lord. One day, ordinary aspects of life will all have "holy to the Lord" stamped on them and our distinctions of sacred and profane will diminish. We make too much of being called to the ministry if we think God doesn't also call people to be teachers or politicians or entrepreneurs or accountants. This does not obscure the fact that our Lord reserves the right to set apart people or things for His use alone, and thus He properly marks them as holy, things such as the first portion of our contributions called the tithe, or people Jesus chooses as apostles or prophets. The Bible says even our marriage is holy!

Without any fanfare or notoriety, the prophetic portion of the Church is now serving marketplace leaders and civil and governmental arenas. While the leadership structures of the Church are often hide-bound by tradition, business enterprises know they have to adapt to changing times to survive. Change is not easy for those who lean heavily on tradition.

After my wife and I served as pastors of churches for thirty years, we ended that phase of life two years ago. I am convinced that religious traditions, when set against the Word of God, will more than likely prevail, apart from a miracle! Why do I say that? Because I am more of a realist than I used to be. People don't like change. But I am also an optimist because God has a believing remnant that will seek Him and listen to Him.

Areas that are open to fresh ideas are finding prophetic people to be extremely valuable. God-ideas are coming from spiritually awakened believers who are dispensing their gifts in spheres of influence and in marketplace locations once despised by religious saints who preferred to reject God's world and instead be other-worldly.

Young Joseph was rejected by his brothers, perhaps for good cause. His dreams sounded boastful. He wore the multi-colored coat given him by his father, flaunting his favor. Likewise, the charismatically sensitized portions of God's family have behaved with youthful zeal and unwise arrogance, causing reaction against it by those who are unfamiliar and uncomfortable with the gifts of the Spirit. Nevertheless, a major percentage of the Body of Christ has been energized because of Joseph in their ranks.

Meanwhile, the "deaf" section of the Church has been critical and jealous of the "hearing" section of the Church, and in one sense, has rejected it and discounted it and even lied about it to their spiritual fathers. This has all happened by God's design.

Left to unbroken successes, spiritually energized saints would have wallowed in self-satisfying indulgence in religious safe-havens, remaining perpetually immature inside their four walls. But God's plan is larger than just "us four and no more." He is looking beyond the house where we worship to what is outside the house. God is gazing at whole cities and nations and people-groups that are in need of redemption.

Joseph had to leave his family for a season in order to be prepared to save his family in a different season. We are now on the verge of that different season.

Joseph discerned the seasons and thus advised a heathen leader how to guard his people from starvation. In our Joseph Season, we have many saints whose gifts and expressions of ministry to the Lord have no outlet inside the house. But that will change. First comes the natural, then the spiritual. We are trained to serve and we gain wisdom from our experiences of life. The same innovation that helps businesses to prosper will eventually operate inside God's house as the prophetic gift is honored in all its many dimensions. Any business that says, "But we‚ve always done it that way" will fade into history.

The church must embrace transformation of its operational ways, but not its core values. Businesses that succeed beyond one generation have values that endure but strategies that adapt. If the church were a manufacturing business, we need to examine our product and send most models back to the assembly line. If the church were a marketing business, we would need to examine our program to see why so many aren't buying what we are selling.

Prophesying to leaders our spiritual insights or words of wisdom, sometimes secretly and behind the scenes, has always been God's way of keeping leaders humble, of upholding the idea of our mutual need of one another, and of maintaining His rule by His word. God uses teams with diverse talents to take the riches of Christ to the poor of the earth. No single leader has enough wisdom to do it all. No leader can stay stable or keep upright if there is no one to speak into his life or offer him honest counsel. In fact, it appears that the more godly leaders become, the more they welcome prophetic people around them.

An example of this kingdom order is found in David's reign in the Bible. There is quite a list of prophets who touched his life. King David was anointed to lead by a prophet of Yahweh named Samuel. David was advised, sheltered, and encouraged by various prophets, including Samuel, Gad and Nathan. He surrounded himself and under-girded his administration with a praise team of singers from among the Levites who could prophesy on their musical instruments and keep watch (a prayer vigil of continuous thanksgiving) before God in the tabernacle where David had set up the Ark. Some of these prophets, like Asaph, composed Psalms and interceded in prayer for King David (Psalms 73-83). They prophesied for David and against his enemies, seeing the battle as the Lord's but also knowing their important partnership with and fellow-soldier's role in establishing an element of His kingdom on the earth. Leaders need praying people who can and will stand with them.

Identifying and then prophesying against God's enemies is a neglected area of high-level occult warfare, a technical term coined by Dr. Peter Wagner. This aspect of prophetic ministry should, in my opinion, always be reserved exclusively for those called by God to the office of the prophet or to those intercessory prayer teams closely associated with mature prophets and constantly under their watchful authority. It is not an activity for believers who engage in casual prophecy inside the church such as is described in 1 Corinthians 12-14. That kind of common or low-level prophecy is always restricted to words that edify (build up, charge, fortify, encourage) or to divine information which stirs up hope, confirms God's will, and imparts faith.

It is a principle of prophetic protocol in the Bible that prophesying inside the house is always meant to be edifying and under the pastor's supervision. God wants good food served at His table to His children. By contrast, the warfare mode of prophetic action with imprecatory prayers and pronouncements of doom must emerge only from proven prophetic voices, and preferably those allied with healthy apostolic spheres, not from isolated individuals or from independent ministries or immature saints operating on their own. This is not child's play. It is dangerous to pray against the devil's forces without proper credentials and effective covering. On the other hand, all believers may always pray intercessory prayers in behalf of themselves and any other people and in favor of God's revealed will (and Biblical) being done.

This "governmental praying" seems to affect things on earth by binding things in heaven. Prophesying authoritatively and praying aggressively under the Holy Spirit's inspiration, when done by authorized agents of the covenant, has the effect of releasing powerful angels who are thereby released to take bold action and intervene in human affairs.

It was a surprise to me to see how often the Bible records prophets who named specific people and called out specific nations in their appeals to God for judgment upon His (and their) enemies. (This subject is too big to deal with properly in one article.) Isaiah, the Old Testament prophet who perhaps had the highest revelation of Messiah's redeeming mission (the most beautiful section in the Bible about our Suffering Savior is found in Isaiah 53), was also one of the boldest prophets in proclaiming dire judgment upon Babylon for afflicting Israel. Who was Babylon? Babylon was the land and the people to the east of Palestine known today as Syria and Iraq. In the Bible, Babylon is used as symbolic language in the Book of Revelation to picture end-time conflict.

Prophets can speak against nations and may determine their destiny by their words. Prophets go to war for God. Isaiah did this with his words and prayers. For example, Isaiah 13:1-5 came alive to me the day before U.S. armed forces invaded Iraq with troops moving northward from Kuwait. It includes the words "I have called my mighty warriors, my proud exulting ones, to execute my anger. The Lord of hosts is mustering the army for battle, from the farthest horizons." This certainly described America's armed forces.

Isaiah in his day spoke words by the Spirit that released judgment and defeat upon Babylon. If you study Jeremiah, you will also see that he was given similar authority to speak regarding nations (Jeremiah 1:5-10). Elijah also spoke words that affected kings and governments and territories and economies. Prophets (sovereign vessels called from birth by the Ascended Christ, not just enthusiastic believers with an elementary gift of prophecy) may speak words of faith that will determine the rise and fall of nations and leaders.

Prophetically-seasoned saints, those "Josephs" sent into secular arenas by God, when occupying key positions in businesses fulfilling their vocational ministry, may be allowed the privilege of stewarding vast resources for the welfare of the nation and the benefit of God's covenant people. They will then discover why God dealt with them so "terribly" and for such a long, dark night of their soul.

The Joseph Season includes both aspects of this prophetic mode of operation: the "speaking forth" in boldness by Five-Fold ministry prophets, and the "stewarding and administrating" governance wisdom and prosperity of the Joseph-type of prophetically marked individuals.

Now, back to the vision of the bank. I sensed (and I realize that interpreting a dream or a vision is much trickier than just receiving it, so I am always open to correction or further illumination) that we are presently in a season of prosperity. The double cycle of seven years did not seem to be literal to me, but symbolic. It includes a season of willingness to go to war and take action against our (spiritual) enemies. The fact is, the kingdom of God has moved to a war footing.

God will now bless those who will help finance the war effort. There will be many who will empower God's workers to go with the Gospel, to tear down Satan's strongholds and to help deliver the poor in Jesus‚ name and to help establish God's kingdom in colonies. These "Daddy Warbucks" people will prosper because of their alliance and partnership with apostolic ministry teams (such as occurred in Philippians 4.) This Joseph Season for America began with the inauguration of George Bush. His contested election was a novel event for America. His election was not determined just by the polls, but by persevering prayer. (See my previous prayer letters.) This season we are in now calls for fresh strategies. Strategies come to us as we wait on God in worship and share our revelation with each other.

The global prayer movement has been powerfully energized by wonderful prophets. I know God has used them to greatly help America. The president's election was not a fluke: it was "prayed-through." An anointing was poured out upon him like happened to young David by Samuel. Do you get the picture? I‚m not identifying George Bush as David or any prophet as Samuel, but I am saying this is illustrates what happened and why it happened. That anointing to lead which came on our president included a war-mantle. In this regard, President Bush also typifies one aspect often neglected by the "nice" church, the religious world, that is, the apostle's vital equipment for fulfilling his ministry-- an operational knowledge of spiritual warfare intended to deliver the nations.

In mercy to America and as a signal to the Church, God inaugurated a new season with a new leader, a David-like figure unafraid to confront Goliath. The world order is now rapidly changing due to catalytic events larger than any one man or nation. The end game has begun for the Church victory and for Satan's defeat.

When I saw the vision of the bank, I saw stored up wealth. Wealth is not itself wicked, but the rust on riches of un-used wealth simply hoarded away is wicked. Joseph in Eqypt accumulated wealth to serve his purpose in God by serving Pharaoh, but also to (unknowingly at the time) save his family from the coming famine. The spiritual corollary is this: the wealth of this world has been plundered by Satan. We have to go get it back! Those possessions (the souls of men and women, stored up wealth, human and material resources to relieve poverty and to bless the nations) all belong to God. A battle is engaged to deliver the kingdoms (realms of rule, spheres of influence, governmental territories) of this world to Jesus.

Read Luke 11:21-22 and see the invisible war behind the visible conflict. The "someone stronger than he" is Jesus, and you and I by and faith are in Him! One necessary key to success is to have Josephs in the right place at the right time to serve their purpose in God by helping to steward the wealth God is releasing to the church.

Jesus spoke about binding the strong man and carrying off his property. (Matthew 12:29) Jesus paid the price for the re-distribution of wealth from the wicked to His family (Isaiah 53). God wants our faith stirred up and our prayers on target so that plunder is returned to the Owner, the Lord (read Psalms 1 and 2). In Iraq, a headline last week said $768 million dollars in U.S. currency (cash by the bus-load) was found hidden by Saddam's leaders, abandoned as they fled the country. When you bind (contain, corral, tie up, restraint, shut in) the strong man (by prayer, by proclamation, by asserting Jesus‚ right of ownership), you can then spoil his goods. Are you willing to go to war?

How should we pray? First, let me ask you this: How much faith do you have? How sure are you of your position in Christ? Faith can do exploits! Pray for God's Word to prevail, for good men to be raised into leadership, for freedom for the gospel to do its work, for evil to be uprooted, for miracles to break out, and for Godly people to prosper.

When we see disturbances among the nations, God says, "The kingdom of God is getting closer!" (Luke 21:31) Don't be like people who have no foundation, whose hearts fail them for fear when shaking comes. (Luke 21:25-26) Know that you have a Living Redeemer and He's coming back to earth to establish His kingdom! (Luke 21:27-28)

Listen to me: It is not enough that Saddam Hussein has fallen, nor would it be sufficient or totally satisfying if the evil principality over your region were to topple. There is more work to do: The captives must be released and the plunder returned to the Lord and into the hands of Lord's people. New institutions based on God's truth and God's ways must be built into families and into society so that the Gospel can penetrate the culture and deliver the people into the next generation.

Powerful princes of darkness (whose judgment in hell awaits them) have kept people-groups imprisoned in ignorance and have amassed riches which were robbed from the righteous. God is decreeing a release of prosperity to those who love His Son and will honor Him from their wealth. God loves the poor and honors their faith. Even more than material wealth, God wants the riches of grace to be lavished on humanity, uncorking a fountain of healing and saving power through His followers. The age of exploits of faith is beginning anew!

With this insight about entering a Joseph Season also comes a new word of wisdom for us all: Get hold of your purpose in God, and get rid of every weight that hinders your full obedience. Practically speaking, GET OUT OF DEBT. (That was a shout from the Spirit!) Plus, break free from controlling spirits, shake off the need for men's approval, stop being intimidated by fear, and begin the process of walking in integrity now!

How do you do shake off shackles? Well, you can't get free if the devil has easy access to your stuff. And he has a free ticket in and out of your territory if there are gaps and holes in your fence. I believe the best insurance for our well-being is to build a barrier against the devil based on our obedience to God's Word. According to Malachi in the Bible, we do that by righteous living and by bringing our offerings to the Lord. Do that act of obedience first, do it faithfully and systematically, and then begin to use additional economic wisdom to manage your family financial affairs and to increase in opportunity and power to bless others.

Systematically honor God, be generous with your family, meet your personal obligations, pay your bills on time, and save for the future so you that can capitalize on the shaking that is coming down the road. Treat those you employee right, too. God watches you and will judge you if you don‚t. Some people came out of the Great Depression well-off because they had liquid assets and large reserves that carried them through and also empowered them to buy up depressed stocks or properties.

Become a good steward of what God has entrusted to you, whether time, or talent, or faith, or gifts, or even your experience in financial areas. Don't put your trust in uncertain riches. Don't let greed or covetousness become the basis for any action or feelings in your life. It is always wrong to be motivated by envy! True Godliness is characterized by real contentment. You can't be holy and greedy at the same time. Don't measure yourself by how much you make or what you drive or where your home is. That isn't a good test of your quality of life or of heaven's opinion of you, anyway. Don't chase this world's toys and treasures, but invest in that which will not fade away, like quality family time (that's the Sabbath principle and it hasn't changed), fellowship and fun with friends, worshipping God with others, learning His ways from His Word, and sending the full gospel to the ends of the earth for the poor to be saved.

Position yourself to be debt free and faith filled. Don't let the shackles of credit-abuse and endless obligations or bills keep you anxious or keep you bound to the wrong location or the wrong job. Take firm and decisive action so that you will be comfortable even if uncertainty overtakes your life. Find true riches in the knowledge of Christ, in covenant friendships, and in enduring riches stored up in heaven because of your actions.

What actions make deposits for us in heaven? Give to the poor, partner with ministry teams and missions of mercy and invest in healthy full-gospel churches that are blessing their cities. Lay up in store riches that won't fade away. Establish a pattern of good works and a lifestyle of mercy, and God promises you that you will never go lacking for anything. Whoever gives to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will repay!

The end of the first Joseph Season came with his reunion with his brothers. God is leading us toward the maturing and uniting of the fractured Body of Christ. The greater goal is living in the land of our inheritance, a land purchased for us by our Savior on the cross. It is worth an investment of our time and our diligent effort to make God's dream come true for His family. We need millions of modern Josephs to hold on to their dreams and then come out of their prisons ready to help us all in our hour of need.

Recently, our Heavenly Father awoke me with comforting thoughts. He coached me to say words of affirmation about my calling and identity. I have often made a habit of saying aloud my profession of faith-- things I know to be true regardless of how I feel-- that Christ Jesus is the Son of God, the Scriptures are the Word of God, my sins are covered by the blood of Jesus, etc. But often the devil attacks our identity and confidence by thwarting or delaying our purpose, to tempt us to doubt God. So our fight is a fight of faith, isn't it? Perhaps this little exchange between me and the Lord will encourage you in your faith walk.

My spirit was in a dialogue with the Lord in which He asked me, "Do you remember what P.I.T. stands for?" I said, "Yes, it stands for Prophet in Training." (They‚re always winding up in a pit, figuratively or literally!)

"That's right," the Lord said, "and when Joseph was in a pit, he was still a prophet, wasn't he?"

"Yes," I said.

"Then I want you to say, ŒI may be in a pit right now, but I am still a prophet of the Lord.‚"

God said, "Do you remember when Elijah was in a cave?" "Yes," I said, "he was in a cave and he was depressed and exhausted after he battled Jezebel."

God said, "Yes, he was in a cave, but he could still wrap his mantle around his face and talk with Me."

"That's right, he did," I said.

"Then I want you to say, ŒI may be in a cave right now, but I still have my anointing wrapped around me from God.‚"

God said, "Do you remember Daniel in the lions‚ den?"

"Yes, I do, Lord. He was there because of his integrity,"

God said, "He was in danger of being torn apart and eaten alive, but he was saved because he kept his eyes on Me and I sent angels to shut the lions‚ mouths."

"Yes, that‚ right," I said.

"Then I want you to say, ŒI may feel surrounded by lions, but my face is turned toward the Lord and I know He will save me.‚"

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

"A New Joseph Season" April, 2003, by Ron Wood. This article may be copied and shared freely. As you forward it, please keep byline information intact. The author is Ron Wood, president of Touched by Grace, an equipping ministry and missionary organization based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Ron and his wife, Lana, were pastors together for thirty years in various churches before founding Touched by Grace. For a list of books, articles, and brochures, or to obtain ministry information, visit our website at www.touchedbygrace.org. Please write to us at Touched by Grace Inc., P. O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA. Please pray for us, that doors into developing nations will be opened for the gospel and that God will give us grace to speak His word boldly.

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War on the Saints

2003-07-10T11:42:00.000-04:00

Verses 21-22 - I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom. Verse 25 - He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Most High. (Daniel 7)

Recently I had a persistent prompting to watch the classic movie, "To Kill a Mockingbird." It was the movie that earned Gregory Peck his well-deserved Academy Award. He portrayed the noble character of a small town lawyer named Atticus Finch, a widower, the father of two small children, who defended a good black man from an evil (and lying) accusation of raping a white woman.

The very next week after I viewed the video, actor Gregory Peck died. I felt like I had lost a friend, like a hero had fallen.

This movie was a parable to me, a picture-lesson of an unseen spiritual reality. Atticus was a man who tried to keep his children safe from harm. The drama showed the struggle against lies and against hatred, of good versus evil. How do you raise children in a world where evil is present? It showed the depravity of people with malicious intent, and the necessity of strong action to overcome wickedness and work for justice.

There was one scene where a rabid dog was approaching his family. Atticus took dead aim with a rifle and killed the dog. "That’s what war is like," I thought. Sometimes you have to be a man of war in order to keep the peace. Evil doesn’t seem real until it tries to touch us personally.

Like Scout, Atticus’s little girl, we have to end our naiveté concerning wickedness, the works of the devil, the presence of evil, and the persistence of lies in the world. Like Atticus, a man who had the strength of character to fight evil in behalf of others, we all need to rediscover our role as Christians and act to preserve and expand our zone of peace under the rule of Christ.

Worn Out and Beaten Down

One of the Bible’s titles for Christ Jesus is "Prince of Peace." Where Jesus is received as Lord (ruler, master, governor) so that His word is obeyed, peace is the result in our lives. Right living, peace and harmony, and spontaneous joy are signals that the kingdom of God is among us (see Romans 14:17). Conversely, when we labor apart from God’s grace, when we wander into habitual sin, when we walk outside of God’s known will, when we attempt to do something beyond our measure of faith, we will feel the strain on our soul, the draining of our strength. But even when we are do right, we can still suffer.

We are all subject to spiritual "drive-by-shootings." We are in a war of attrition that steals our joy, hassles our souls, and afflicts our bodies.

The Devil doesn’t want to just give you a bad day; he wants to take you out… permanently! The earth is not a level playing field. Like the early American settlers found out, the Indians were here first and they didn’t easily give up their land. Casualties occurred. Likewise, in our advancement of God’s kingdom as we extend the light of the gospel, we have found out that the enemy is very active. Ignorance of his schemes against us provides with absolutely no protection, so there is no safety in pretending he’s not real. In this war innocent children, good people, and yes, even obedient faith-filled praying believers will still come under attack from Satan and his wicked imps.

You see, Satan has a skillful strategy. He doesn’t come up to you and announce, "Hello, I’m Satan and I’m here to wreck your life." No, he is usually more subtle and secretive than that. Remember, he first appeared to humanity as a snake in the Garden of Eden. He has mastered his craft of deception, temptation, and destruction with eons of practice.

He knows we can overcome him by faith. So he focuses his forces against our confidence in God, against our trust in Christ or His word, and against our self-confidence in our new identity in Jesus.

His goal is to wear down the saints. Do you feel it? This is a day of increasing pressure against people, even people who gladly serve God. Battle fatigue is a combat reality. If we ignore Satan’s tactics, we will be unprepared for opposition, ambushed by unmet expectations (We wail in tears, "Nobody told me it would be hard!"), and we find our strength of heart failing in the time of testing. The consequences? We cast away our confidence and drop out of the fight of faith. The Devil then keeps the territory he was claiming, and we forfeit our part of the victory that was due us. Sadly, due to unbelief or fear, we will miss out on the inheritance in this life being offered to us by God.

By "wear down," I mean an effort to make us dissolve our resolve, cast away our confidence, forfeit our faith, immobilize our emotions, or as a boxer would say, "throw in the towel." Many a believer has walked away from the fight because they were not equipped to endure the battles in order to win the war. They never factored in the cost! We need proper training if we are to endure difficult times or hardship. We need to be armed with an eternal purpose that will fortify us with a temporal toughness. By God’s design, this kind of "warfare equipping" cannot come exclusively from pastors, but has to be out-sourced to selected apostles and prophets. (Colossians 1:28-29, 1 Thessalonians 1:6)

I saw a carefully prepared colorful book cover coming down from heaven. As I looked, it wrapped itself around the pages of a manuscript awaiting publication. The interior pages were 8-1/2 by 11 inches (like a full-sized teacher’s textbook, or perhaps a manual or thesis). The sturdy cover was made all of one piece, 11 by 17 inches, with a nicely done squared-off spine (called "Perfect Binding" by commercial printers, and not an incidental aspect of this vision since "perfecting the saints" is a term used for the equipping task of the Five-fold ministry, especially apostles. For Biblical references, see Ephesians 4:11-12, Colossians 1:28, etc.). The cover was meant to bind the pages inside. I knew the cover represented the finished work of teaching. The front cover signified teaching about apostles and the back cover stood for teaching regarding prophets. The cover was all of one piece, signifying the role of apostles and prophets joined together as an integral unit. The interior pages of the book represented what pastors already know, mostly doctrine about salvation. It was good as far as it went, but by itself, it was incomplete. Without a sturdy cover, the pages would not hold together, nor could the book be published with proper quality, nor could it be easily distributed without falling apart. By the Spirit, I knew that God desires to put the "finishing touch" on the doctrine being taught by pastors. A new teaching grace, a new anointing of the Spirit with new authority from God has arrived so the foundation ministries can teach the whole Word of God with power. (Romans 15:19)

Satan wants you to Surrender

Like a siege against a city, Satan’s strategy is to wear down the saints. In a classic military siege, a city is first surrounded by an enemy army thus cutting off all ingress or egress. No food is allowed in. It is very cost effective because no attacking soldiers die, no ammunition is wasted, the city’s inhabitants are demoralized, and — if it is not broken off by outside help — it is invariably successful. All it takes to win by means of a siege is sufficient time.

The Psalmist David described the feeling of being under siege, of being hemmed in, abandoned. "For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness* to me in a besieged city. As for me, I said in my alarm, ‘I am cut off from before Your eyes.’ Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications when I cried to You." (Psalms 31:21-22) It was in the state of siege that David experienced something marvelous: God’s extraordinary great mercy and love.

*(Hebrew- hesed. Most often translated mercy or steadfast love in the kjv, and Lovingkindness in the niv. Like its nearest counterpart in the Greek New Testament, agape, it is a word that is difficult to literally translate into a single English word because it is so full of meaning. My informal "amplified definitions" are: steadfast love, undying loyalty, unfailing faithfulness, persistent kindness, mercy that won’t quit, covenantal fidelity, stubborn affection, aggressive grace, on-going goodness in action)

What is his advice to us when we feel cut off from God and isolated? "Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord." (vs. 24)

One of the great illusions of spiritual attack that alarms us the most is the false perception that God has left us alone. Here is where our faith comes in to play. Here is where our knowledge of and belief in the scriptures can help us the most.

How about you? Do you feel under siege? Then read on as we uncover Satan’s strategy against you and show you how to overcome.

Daniel’s insight of the end-times

The prophet Daniel pictured historic events as they unfolded, even events at the end of the age. From his era of about 600 years before the birth of Christ, he saw what was in store for Gentiles and for Jews with amazing clarity. He wrote descriptions of what he saw, prophetic timetables in vivid imagery shown to him by the Spirit of God (see Daniel 7:9-28).

One scenario he foresaw was a scene in heaven. It was like a courtroom drama during which the Lord appeared before the Judge of the Universe and a sentence was passed in His favor. A decree from the throne was issued which gave the Lord dominion over every kingdom on the earth. It was an everlasting dominion, an indestructible kingdom, given to the Son of Man by the Ancient of Days. This pictures for us the final purpose of our spiritual war, the consummation of all human history, the triumph of Christ’s kingdom.

As Daniel considered what he had seen in this "Holy Spirit forecast," he was greatly disturbed. He inquired of the Lord for the interpretation of the startling vision. An angel answered him, "But the saints of the most high will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come." (Daniel 7:18 nasb) Notice the two different aspects of what the saints must do: receive the kingdom, and then possess the kingdom. These two things are sequential to and distinctive from one another. Receiving the kingdom is not the same thing as possessing the kingdom.

The kingdom of God begins in the hearts of transformed believers. (John 3:3-5) As we mature in faith, as we grow in our knowledge of God’s ways, as we overcome the sinful tendencies of the flesh and live an overcoming life, we begin to represent His rule in the world. In our adoption as sons and joint-heirs, we can use our authority in Christ to possess the kingdom that God has predestined for us.

This is never our authority, but always His authority, merely on loan to us. It is the kingdom belonging to Jesus– earned by His perfect obedience and His death on the cross, affirmed by His resurrection from the dead, begun by His exaltation to the Father’s right hand, and soon to be unveiled by His glorious return! But for the saint — the believers who suffer with Him and rule with Him — possessing this inheritance will not come without a struggle.

Daniel had insight into the struggle. He saw a cosmic contest in human history that for us has become contemporaneous experience. In this conflict at the climax of history, war broke out. An enemy of God’s purpose was "waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom." (Daniel 7:21-22 nasb) The deciding factor was a decree from heaven. Heaven’s throne heard the accusations, heard the defense’s arguments, and ruled in our eternal favor! What was ours by right became ours in fact.

Between receiving the kingdom and possessing the kingdom, the resistance of Satan and his agents of evil against the seed of Christ is unremitting. The struggle appears on the earth but it is actually waged in the heavens. The heavenly realm includes the spiritual dimension that is often unseen but is a present reality nonetheless. This is the realm where we come under the authority of (or are impacted by the power of) very real spiritual entities and forces. We need discernment in these days. Every person needs to be asked, "Who is your god?" "To whom do you submit?" "Whom do you pray to?" "Whom do you worship?" "Where do you get your values?" "Upon what do you base your beliefs?" "How do you practice your religion?" "What spirit guides you?"

These are ultimate issues. We will not come into our divinely appointed inheritance apart from discerning the powers that are warring against us. Then to overcome, we need genuine faith. We have to move from mere saving faith to a more powerful warring faith, a faith that can evict the devil and take possession of everything purchased for us on the cross by Christ. We won’t overcome unless we can persist despite obstacles and evil enemies. To win, we need to defeat the accuser of the brethren (Revelation 12:10). We need to persist in presenting our appeal to the Righteous Judge, the Lord of all the earth. And our appeal has to be based on solid historical evidence and given by clear testimony.

Winning means war. In other words, it is a war of words. Prayer and proclamation will play a primary role in this battle. Prayer is presenting our petition to God. The most powerful prayers are when we pray God’s agenda, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth…." Proclamation is declaring aloud to men or angels the truth of God. Jesus did this when he announced, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me!", or when He said, "The kingdom of God is at hand!" These were battle cries and demons knew it. The early Church would proclaim, "Jesus Christ is Lord!", "Christ has risen from the dead!", "Jesus is the Son of God!" Maybe a modern cry would be, "There is no God but Jehovah and Elijah is his prophet!" It can be whatever utterance the Spirit has given to us to say. It is a war of words backed up by deeds. As they say in Texas, "It ain’t braggin’ if he can do it." Jesus announced the arrival of His kingdom and then demonstrated His kingdom by works of power through expelling demons and healing the sick. We are to do the same.

Don’t lose sight of the fact that at the center of our struggle is the throne of God, the seat of all authority in the universe. What we do must represent the authority of our King. The cosmic battle of the ages will not be fought at Armageddon; it was already fought at Calvary, and Jesus won!

So we come to the Father in prayer with the victory of Jesus chalked up to our benefit, credited to our account, deposited on our behalf by God’s grace and accepted by us by simple faith. This releases God's authority to work in us and for us. The power of God is awesome to behold, but even more awesome is His authority. To Christians, God’s throne is frightening, but familiar. For those who trust in Jesus, it is not a throne of judgment, but a throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16).

The epic battle of the ages is this: Who is the rightful heir to the throne? Will the children of God come into their inheritance with Jesus? (Romans 8:16-23) It is a contest over who has the right to rule the earth– Satan, because of his rebellion and Adam’s default, or, Christ Jesus, because of His obedience and the salvation He provides that includes us?

Satan’s Two Main Weapons

At the conclusion of the contest, at the end of the age when the war intensifies, Satan’s ultimate weapon is unleashed upon mankind. It is deployed in two ways: accusation and pressure. Accusation refers to charges made by lying spirits against God and His truth. Pressure refers to events Satan unleashes on earth that puts fiery testing and fearful anxiety into every man’s heart.

"He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the highest One…" (Daniel 7:25 nasb) Satan is waging war on God and upon people who are created in the image of God. He is accusing God to us and he is pressuring our souls to weaken our faith, hope, and love.

Be warned: The devil wants to wear you out! How does he do this? He uses psychological warfare– propaganda of the highest caliber, warfare designed to break your will, divide your heart, cause you to cast away your confidence, and turn you into a prisoner of resentment and failed expectations. Ask yourself: Has the pressure intensified lately? Has your faith been under attack? Has your hope dimmed? Has your love grown cold?

The devil’s first weapon is accusation. Accusation, unless it is justified because we are guilty of a crime, is slander. Slander means false charges brought against the innocent. Slander impugns our character and questions our motives. Self-doubt then slows us down. Now, I know the devil accuses us to God and to each other. That’s why we need to walk in covenant love with one another and also be quick to confess our sins. But the real accusation is bigger. It is a lie leveled against God.

A lie gives advantage to our enemy only if it is believable, and Satan’s BIG LIE has worked very well. The greatest indictment Satan has brought against God is an accusation that has been extraordinarily successful in these last days. It is an idea at first hard to refute which now has become as pervasive as any modern cultural worldview can possibly be among western peoples.

Satan’s Big Lie

It is THE LIE that all the wrong things in the world can be fairly attributed to God since He (God) is sovereign and so must be in control, therefore, the bad things occurring in our lives and the tragedies in the world must logically all be God’s fault. How has the Devil accomplished this lie? He has brainwashed society and used our own institutions of education and higher learning to do it. He has packaged a clever lie that has deceived the saints and offended secular society.

Satan has used humanistic enlightenment (the pursuit of knowledge which basically produced western scientific thinking) and erroneous theology (the Augustinian notion of sovereignty incorrectly represented as meticulous control absent spiritual warfare as present reality) to cleverly impugn God’s character.

The master of deception manipulates peoples’ thoughts, implanting philosophical deceit into minds that are unguarded by the truth of God’s Word. His ploy has worked remarkably well among prosperous Americans. You might even say the devil is a genius at mind-games. The sad thing is, when you are deceived, you don’t realize it! Our only protection is to understand God’s word and God’s ways as revealed in the Holy Bible and then accept it by loving the truth more than we love our own pride or our own knowledge.

Not yet convinced that people are deceived? Then think about this: Even today, when something tragic occurs, the very first thoughts in someone’s mind or the first words they say are,

"Why did God let this happen to me?"

"If God is so good, why does He allow bad things to happen?"

And then we ‘Christianize’ our wrong thinking by coating it with this religious platitude: "Well, God must have a higher purpose in allowing this suffering." We put God into the category of a father who hurts his kids "for their own good." (While suffering patiently can certainly be a refining agent to our faith, or merit praise as a testimony if we keep our faith joyfully, or it may be incidental to our apostolic task as we fulfill our calling, it is not God’s preferred method of disciplining people, nor are we to remain passive regarding evil.)

Do you see the not-so-subtle accusation? Satan has succeeded in slandering God and in getting us to join in the accusation! The Devil gets a pass but God gets the blame. By this clever ploy, he persuades us to doubt God. Satan has led vast portions of the Church to withdraw from spiritual war, to welcome affliction as though it came from God, and to quit practicing discernment. We have laid down our weapons, forgotten where they were stored, and weakened our will to resist.

A U.S. Army General said, "War is a human endeavor. We equip the man, we don’t man the equipment." Hey, Christians… neither does God! If we don’t fight, the enemy wins. God is looking for people willing to be equipped for war. "I sought for a man to stand in the gap…" We keep waiting on God, but God is waiting on us. We need to learn to discern. We need to be trained to know our part and also to know God’s part, because you can’t confuse the two issues. We have certain responsibilities in this program.

Our western rationalism causes us to believe in cause and effect. That’s scientific thinking and there’s nothing wrong with it… if we have all the facts and if we start with the correct set of assumptions. For example, we think God causes everything but we ignore the reality of the Fall of Man. We have to take into account the reality of evil and the structure of the universe in which freedom of choice exists. We need a new quantum physics model of looking at spiritual reality.

Adam and Eve’s plunge into sin by their rebellion demonstrated that freewill is allowed in this world. But people are not the only free agents. The Devil and demons, forever irredeemable, also make choices and seek out targets. They lie, steal, and destroy, and like roaring lions on the prowl, they look for the weak or the lonely to prey upon, and they do it under the cover of "Its all God’s fault!"

This erroneous system of thought — the notion of blaming God for evil — was not part of the Early Church’s original apostolic beliefs. It arose later as more converts came from non-Hebrew cultures and as more Church teachers came from the Greco-Roman world with its pagan ideas.

How insidious and malicious is the serpent, to slander our loving Lord, to attribute wicked works and ill motives to our holy God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator-God of the Bible who alone among all the gods is worthy of worship by men and angels.

It is important to understand this distinction between God and Satan or else we will fall into the trap of blaming God for all our trouble. This becomes even more critical as we approach the end of the age and there arises the last generation before Christ returns– a generation which will see troubles beyond the scope of what we have imagined. When it happens, whom will we blame?

Pressure on the Saints

Jesus said we are to discern the times when there is dismay among nations, when men are fainting for fear of the things coming upon the earth. In addition to global and political upheavals, there will also be a heavenly shaking- "the powers of the heavens will be shaken." (Luke 21:25-36) This refers to the invisible angelic powers that have influence over the affairs of nations. (See Daniel 9- the "prince of Persia," and the "prince of Greece") These Strong Men or ruling powers will be unseated as the saints prevail in prayer and team up to spread the gospel of Christ’s kingdom to the ends of the earth (see Matthew 24:14). Already, the greatest prayer movement in the history of the world is underway, targeting the "10-40" window, and now Europe. A global shift of power is underway.

When these events occur which Christ prophesied, there is a "then" and a "when" (Luke 21:27-32). It is timeframe-sensitive. It will eventually affect the whole globe (Luke 21:35). It is all a precursor to the return of Christ. Christ’s ear-shattering earth-shaking trumpet-sounding descent is imminent (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Despite the turmoil and pressure preceding it, as believers in Jesus, we are to look heavenward and rejoice for our redemption is drawing near!

Meanwhile, we need to have fireproof unshakeable faith. Can your faith endure suffering? Are you an over-comer or a quitter? We need a kind of faith and a quality of faith that will not fail or cave in when tough times come. Why? The pressure is intensifying. Because Satan has come down "having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time." (Revelation 12:7-12)

In a dream, I saw a mountain with a highway coming out of the base of it. The highway passed alongside the house where I was looking from the window. I heard these words, "Where do apostles come from?" Then I heard the Lord’s answer, "Out from under great pressure."

Don’t confuse the trouble instigated by Satan on planet earth for the ultimate redemption and glorious kingdom being offered to us by God. Even in fiery trials, knowing the character of God will hold us steadfast as we keep on trusting despite momentary suffering or setbacks.

The Devil is not God. He is not an equal to Jesus, and he is not to be feared. God has given us power over Satan and over all his forces (Luke 10:19), and we are specifically told not to fear the Devil. Look at the differences:

God alone is eternal. God is uncreated. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, eternal, unrestricted by our dimensions of time and space. Satan is a created being whose existence is bounded by the limits of time and restricted to a certain place in space. The Devil is a fallen archangel, terrible in beauty, full of pride and ambition, angry at his failure to gain dominion, and doomed to a certain fate in hell. But he is not equal to God or to Jesus and he never will be.

God alone has power over life and death. The devil might kill the body, but not the soul. Only God can send a soul to ultimate death, which is eternal separation and darkness, a place called hell. In Christ, we are given the gift of eternal life and made partakers of His nature. Only one religion includes a resurrection, Christianity. Only One Man has ever come back from the dead never to die again, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

God alone is good. God is someone you would like to spend time with. The Devil is not that kind of person. The fruit of God’s life in us is wonderful, while the wages of sin is death, confusion, and disintegration. Satan’s seed become like him in perversion and hatred.

God alone is holy and yet also full of grace. Satan is unholy and can never be saved or sanctified. And if he lies and tries to get someone saved by a false religion, it is always through works, not grace. Indeed, all paths do not lead to God. There is only one way of salvation– through Christ. God’s holiness is not religious, not legalistic rules filled with reasons to punish us.

God alone is the Creator. His words hold all things together. No other god or angel has the power to speak words that cause matter or energy to spring into existence or bind into molecules, much less bear the spiritual imprint of encoding so life can reproduce itself.

God alone is love. No other being has the innate willingness to sacrifice its own life for the object of its affection, as Christ our Savior demonstrated for us already on the cross.

God alone is truth. He has all wisdom and all knowledge. No other being in heaven or on earth has total information or accurate perspective on the universe or the reason for its creation.

It is time we made an informed decision that we are on the Lord’s side. In this conflict at the end of the ages, we have to choose to fight a good fight of faith in order to overcome Satan.

John, the apostle who wrote the Book of Revelation, in his glimpses into the eternal realm saw the conflict of good against evil. He described the contest in poetic imagery. He told us of three weapons which Jesus’ followers are able to use to overcome the devil (Revelation 12:7-12). These three weapons are: 1) the blood of the Lamb; 2) their spoken testimony; and, 3) fearlessness, or not protecting our lives by compromising when faced with threats. To say it another way, we can be victorious over the devil by means of faith in the completed work of Jesus on the cross (the blood); by using the power of our personal testimony (agreeing with God’s Word and declaring what God has done); and by living sacrificially for God despite danger, even trusting that our God is able to raise us from the dead (willingness to suffer for the cause of Christ). This is the kind of faith, original and apostolic, once delivered to the saints.

Two other sources of strength to us are the Scriptures and the ministry of prophets. To overcome our trials, we have to know and apply the Scriptures from the Holy Bible. They feed our faith and inject strong encouragement into our souls, giving us many examples of victory through overcoming. If you read the back of the Book, you see in the last chapter that Christ and His followers will win!

Another source of encouragement: the prophets of the Lord. The early Church dispatched prophets to travel a circuit through the churches to edify them, to keep them from the trap of legalism, and to build up the saints’ faith (Acts 15:30-35). We need prophets among us helping the pastors. Churches should be refreshed regularly by the catalytic ministry of the Spirit provided by the prophets of the Lord.

Last Man Standing

Jesus spoke a parable in Matthew Twenty (verses 1-16) that taught about laborers in his fields. Some workers got bent out of shape because God paid the last workers the same wages as the first. We miss the point if all we see is that God is generous and has the right to pay anything he wants. The real point is to consider what it means to be the last man remaining standing in the field.

We don’t have the opportunity to be the first in the field. That honor went to the early Church’s first disciples, especially the Twelve apostles. All but one died as a martyr for Christ. They paid the price. They laid the foundation. Their words are inscribed as sacred text, canonized as Holy Scripture, a perfect pattern the Lord has said is accurate and true for all time. These original laborers bore the heat of the day.

What is surprising is that God’s generosity offers us in this modern era twenty centuries later the chance to earn the same reward as those early pioneers, here at the end of the day when the time is short. But payment only comes at the very end and it only comes to those who are still standing. The issue is, will we keep standing?

The Holy Spirit has highlighted this phrase, "the last man standing." There is something to be said for staying on your feet in the heat of the day. God admires those who finish what they start. This phrase refers to all believers as well as the Lord’s full-time workers who are able to endure and not give up, overcoming pressure, both internal and external, and keeping on working despite Satanic accusations and pressure, displaying the patience of the prophets and the perseverance of the apostles in order to bring in the harvest and thus please the Lord.

Jesus described the end of the age. He said the "harvest is the end of the age." Whatever else may happen at the end of the age, one thing we know for sure: it is harvest-time. Jesus said angels would be activated and would accompany us in the harvest. (Matthew 13:39) Angels will help with the reaping of the fields. They will take people out who persist in evil. A divine sorting into holy and unholy groups is already underway. The stakes are high. This battle is over the harvest of souls that Jesus paid for on the cross.

Last Days Pressures

Satan’s tactics are all designed to discourage the workers so as to prevent the harvest. Like Tobiah and Sanballat, a pair of evil workers who tried to discourage Nehemiah from rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4), the Devil sends false prophecies against us. These are designed to weaken us. Anytime a so-called "prophetic word" weakens you, discourages you, drains you of strength, leads you to give up, recognize that its source is not God, but the Devil.

He also sends unauthorized usurpers (illegal squatters) into the storehouse to rob God’s workers of their wages (For more on this warfare regarding money, see my book Thief in the Storehouse).

James the Apostle emphasized the need for wisdom over money in the last days. He said wealthy people are guilty by reason of the rust on their riches. "In the last days you have stored up your treasure." (James 5:3) Wealth is another mark of the last days. Covetousness will be uncovered in these last days, when wealth is abundant, but hoarded. It is a sin to live in luxury while laborers in the field have to do without.

Why was God angry? Why was the Judge standing at the door? It wasn’t about people living comfortably– God has no problem with that at all. God wants us blessed! The Lord of the Harvest (Mt. 9:38) was angry because his workers were being deprived. His anger was about the harvest in the field being neglected. God waits for "the precious produce of the soil." (James 5:7)

The season of harvest is simultaneous with the season of judgment. The threshing of the wheat looks and feels, to the wheat, like tribulation. The ancient paddle or rod used by Romans to crack the husk off the grain and let the breeze carry away the chaff was called in Latin a tribulatum.

Pressure is a good word to describe what is now coming against the saints. Everybody in the world feels it, but God’s people are especially targeted. Pressure is like heat. Eventually it cooks out and uncovers whatever constitutes our soul. Pressure comes from two sources: internal and external.

I saw the Lord’s hand offering us something. In his hand were four foil-wrapped candies. Two were hard candies and two were soft. They were all intended for our consumption. With them would come a sweet insight that would bless us. The two hard candies stood for Job and Joseph, two businessmen-prophets who suffered unfairly. The two soft candies represented two gifts of power from the Holy Spirit, the gift of faith and the gift of miracles, even nature miracles such as Elijah performed. These gifts are being re-activated in the Church for warfare evangelism.

Job and Joseph stood for wealthy businessmen who walk with God but endure trials of faith because of their calling. "Consider the endurance of Job… see the outcome of the Lord’s dealings…" (James 5:11) The Book of Job suddenly became an end-times parable to me. Job came under an undeserved series of attacks from Satan. Even then he didn’t yield, not until he started speaking doubt, then he went into confusion. His friends tried to find fault to justify his suffering, but there was no one to blame but Job or God. They had left Satan out of the equation! Only by radical forgiveness and stubborn faith did Job manage to endure. Then God rewarded him with a double blessing. God judged the situation and the parties involved, and used the Devil’s attack to justify blessing Job in the end with great favor and an increased inheritance. (See 1 Peter 2:19-23, and 3:9)

Internally, we can wreck our own lives if we ignore or if we conceal our sin, if we hang on to an inadequate self-image, if we hold on to old hurts and refuse to forgive, or if we settle for a woefully deficient barely-get-by kind of faith. Character issues are not peripheral to God’s purpose in our lives. Do you realize, that with sufficient Christ-like character, we can actually cause time to be on our side? We can be so strong in spirit, so joyful in praise, so filled with enduring hope and so out-fitted with genuine faith that we can actually wear the Devil out! I have seen it happen. This is the patience of the saints. The Judge is on our side. He will rule in our favor.

Externally, we face enemies that are not flesh and blood, but sometimes these enemies utilize people who don’t know what they are doing. Therefore, we need to adapt our ways and our thoughts to line up with God’s ways and God’s thoughts (see Isaiah 55) God has ways that reveal His wisdom. We will never defeat Satan using Satan’s ways. God’s wisdom works, not human cunning. Its source is heaven, not the world. Divine wisdom is (or should be) demonstrated by apostolic models of covenant love in communities that are living by overcoming faith. With sufficient Spirit-inspired faith, we can move mountains of Satanic resistance out of the way, advancing God’s kingdom as we keep putting our hand to the plow and doing His work.

God is restoring a new measure of apostolic and prophetic teaching to the Church that will enable us to deal with both of these realms using new insight into God’s Word and Gods ways.

God is training his children to persevere, to overcome, to band together so we can stand together, so we can survive and thrive in the heat of the battle, and live to see the glory of God, multitudes saved, Satan’s works destroyed, and Christ glorified among the nations.

Real faith emerges from the fire purified, not destroyed. God’s payback time has arrived. The devil’s plan will backfire on him as we cast him out or wear him down. If he sticks around past his eviction notice, he’ll have to listen to us praising God and worshipping in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:14, 18). We have heard our Lord’s instructions, "having done all, stand therefore…"

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"War on the Saints" is a prophetic teaching distributed by Touched by Grace Inc. Permission is granted to copy and share this article providing all its contents are kept intact including the information in this byline. The author is Ron Wood, President of Touched by Grace, a 501-c-3 non-profit organization. Our assigned task is to equip emerging apostles in the developing church. Write us at Touched by Grace, P. O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA.

All Scripture quotations are used by permission from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) 1995 updated edition, The Lockman Foundation.

For information about Ron or Lana Wood or their preaching and teaching ministry in America and the missionary work of Touched by Grace among the poor in several nations, or if you wish to download prophetic articles, obtain teaching outlines, or purchase books, please visit our corporate website at www.touchedbygrace.org.

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New Weapons are Coming

2003-09-29T11:40:00.000-04:00

I saw in a dream a great battleship that flew through the air, a new breed of airborne fighting machine. It was awesome in its power and maneuverability. From my vantage point high in a tower, I observed it flying at great speed, then dramatically slowing to a stop and hovering nearby as it chose its landing spot. It had a cockpit arrangement so that the pilot could see clearly in every direction. It had, in addition to its central fuselage that generated great forward power and lift, two outriggers, each as long as the plane’s entire body, one on the right and one on the left. These were its massive weapons systems.

I awoke thinking of the Scripture in 2 Corinthians 6:7- "by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left." This means weapons in both of our hands, a doubled-up anointing, new works of faith and power now being released to God’s leaders in Jesus’ kingdom.

Most of us recall the verses in Ephesians about spiritual warfare that describe a soldier’s armor, including the only offensive weapon listed, "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And how is this sword utilized? "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit…" (Ephesians 6:17-18) We use our weapons primarily by praying.

How is prayer related to righteousness? How is righteousness a weapon? That’s easy…. If our hearts don’t condemn us, then we have genuine confidence. Faith functions best in an un-condemned, un-divided heart. "The effective (fervent) prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much." (James 5:16) Prayer is meant to have an effect. Prayer releases God’s energy into our situation. It does things! Focus on Jesus, hear what He is saying, do what He says, and then you can boldly ask for miracles!

Obeying God’s word by hearing the Lord’s voice is the key to signs and wonders. The faith of the apostles was never only an intellectual assent to certain truths. That is a deficient Greek-Roman kind of faith, based on knowledge. The patristic faith of the biblical fathers from our Hebrew roots was interested only in faith that produced results. James said faith should have works! The apostolic mandate isn’t interested only in education, but in transformation. We come to liberate captives and subdue the land for the glory of God. Our lord requires that our faith produce something tangible, measurable, observable. The evidence of our activity should be apparent.

Listen to what Paul said: "Through whom (Jesus resurrected) we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His names’ sake." (Romans 1:5) Paul said he fully accomplished this goal. "For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders…" (Romans 15:18) Paul was a good soldier in the army of Jesus Christ.

Soldiers must have weapons in order to be effective, to be good soldiers. It was a surprise to me to see that from heaven’s viewpoint, righteousness can be a strategic weapon. For example, the Bible says that when Noah built an ark, he condemned the world. His act of obedience saved his family and also permitted judgment to come on the wicked.

Likewise, when we completely obey God, the Lord is able to release on earth the heavenly forces (angelic harvesters) that can thresh the nations without also destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Righteousness is our rearguard during times of judgment. In another motif, when we are righteous while enduring unjust affliction or persecution, the Lord is just to reward us while at the same judging Satan and plundering his goods.

God even deals fairly with the devil. God waits for wickedness to show all its true colors, for evil to ripen before He gathers it out and lays the ax to the root of the tree. Sometimes God allows Satan to vex the saints more severely, so the payback can be even steeper. The thief is always true to his nature. The devil always overplays his hand.

Remember how Satan attacked Job? This is a lesson for us in these last days. "the farmer waits for the precious produce… be patient… strengthen your hearts…the Judge is standing right at the door…We count those blessed who have endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful." (James 5:7-11)

None of these blessings (abundant rewards and battlefield promotions) happen to mere civilians, but to soldiers, men and women trained in Christ’s faith who can withstand the pressures of combat with unseen forces and unexplained opposition.

"Who at any time serves as a soldier at his own expense?" (1 Corinthians 9:7 NASB 95)

"Suffer hardship with me, as a good (effective) soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:3)

Of the many terms the apostle Paul used to describe his co-workers, perhaps the one we least understand is "fellow soldier." In Colossians, Paul referenced other members of his team with these words: "fellow bond-servant," "fellow prisoner," and "fellow workers."

The Greek term for this latter usage (sum-ergos) is the same origin as our modern word synergy. Synergy is what happens when things or people work together to create a greater effect than when they operate independently. It is a multiplication of energy. By teaming up, we become greater than the sum of our parts. That’s the power of covenant, of being yoked together.

Unity is mostly a theory to us, a mystery, because we thought it could be achieved on a playground. No, it only comes on a battlefield.

Unity in Christ is a form of empowerment to defeat the devil. But we think too often of unity as a "sweetness and light" kind of mutual non-offensive pact. Churches act like unity is conforming to the lowest common denominator of truth. Actually, unity is more important than intellectual agreement. Harmony is for the sake of achieving the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18), not just so we will like each other better. Oxen yoked together to pull a plow may not like each other, but will they pull in the same direction. Two horses teamed together can pull much more than two single horses pulling alone.

Jesus didn’t send out solitary workers. He sent them out by pairs and He first trained them in a covenantal community known as The Twelve, an apostolic company. Jesus showed us a model of what a team should be like. This same model was also demonstrated in Paul’s ministry in the Book of Acts. The dynamic of Team Jesus is needed now. Unfortunately, to get there, you have to die a thousand deaths: to ego, ambition, impatience, reputation, religious approval, your own success, and rejection.

Teams accomplish tasks. Classes inform doctrine. Cells nurture saints. Without connection to Headship (the Ascension Ministries of Eph. 4:11; the Foundation Offices of Eph. 2:20; the Appointed Leaders of 1 Cor. 12:28), the body is disjointed, paralyzed or spastic. As the light of revelation increases, the Body of Christ is beginning to see into how its internal systems and organs are supposed to operate. We thought for years that the church could be healthy if it was run our way, with deacons and pastors and church boards. Now we are discovering that you can’t replace organic life with artificial limbs or organs and expect it to be viable or to reproduce. No one has a better idea than God’s.

New leadership graces are being deployed in mature servants of God. One of the great mysteries the Lord is about to open up (or re-introduce) to the Church of Jesus Christ is how an apostolic company works. Mysteries in God are not unknowable, but are merely concealed until revealed. Presently, we have few working models of apostolic companies to point to as examples for us to emulate.

Teams are task oriented. The goal is to accomplish the task, not build a mutual admiration society. Presently, too many teams serve only to inflate the ego of their leader. The sons sitting at the table are never deployed into the field. The Father keeps adding rooms on to own his house rather than sending sons into their own place.

The composition of teams over time will change based on their assignment from God. A term the Lord highlighted for me from a business environment in which I was studying was "measurable accountability." If we "measure ourselves by ourselves," we are not wise. If we use objective standards as measuring tools, we can see if we are achieving results.

In our churches, we have settled for being good, when the Lord wanted us to be effective. We have thought that we were to be good in the same way a mother tells her son, "be a good little boy." That’s immature and naïve thinking. No, we need to be dangerous to the devil, not nice to God’s enemies. Jesus came to bring a war of liberation, to destroy the works of the devil (Acts 10:38). Jesus was the "good shepherd." Paul said to Timothy, be a "good soldier." The word "good" in this context doesn’t mean "morally good," although that is a given. Instead it means, "effective," as in efficient, productive, doing the work that is expected of you.

If the Church were held accountable for producing a product in line with the Owner’s wishes, we would be presently judged a failure. Anemic saints, feuding members, an oppressed population, a powerless professional clergy, fatherless families, idolatry and greed, a famine of God’s word, violent cities, a groaning earth. It’s all connected.

We think the end product of the gospel is the local church. We get together and feel good and think we have done the work. Wrong. Where’s our fruit? The end product ought to be producing more sons (and daughters) brought to glory through the grace of God’s Son and sent out to transform the world, starting with one heart at a time, but not ending there. If we end there, we have failed the next generation. From the Faith Factory of the Church should come the Next Generation of governors, mayors, university professors, presidents and senators, scientists, broadcasters, businessmen and women, inventors, financiers, and fathers and mothers, all keeping the covenant, honoring God, and raising the children.

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© 2003 Touched by Grace, P. O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405 USA.

The Killer Storm, The Bitter Pool, & The Prophet's Axe

2005-07-10T12:07:00.000-04:00

The Lord can use insights and incidents to help us understand this
season.

Killer Hurricane Targets Prophets’ Compound
The hurricane named Dennis made landfall Sunday July 10th at Santa
Rosa, the small panhandle beachfront town in Florida that is the base
of ministry of Dr. Bill Hammon and his network of churches. Christian
International has equipped thousands of believers to activate the Holy
Spirit’s wonderful gift of prophecy. Dr. Hammon is himself a prophet of
the Lord.

Consider this as a symbol: the center of the storm’s killer winds were
targeted precisely against the center of the prophetic movement in the
modern church. Was this merely a coincidence? It has happened before…

In Matthew 14, Jesus stayed behind and prayed until the third watch
(3:00AM). What happens after this prayer vigil is the amazing story of
Jesus walking on the water through an intense storm to get to the
disciples’ boat. The storm was trying to kill or delay the disciples
from crossing over. The storm was an enemy of God’s purpose. Perhaps
that’s why Jesus knew he needed extra prayer to penetrate this new
region with kingdom power.

Afterward on the other shore came the most intense spiritual battle
recorded in the gospels, the demoniac from the tombs. Spiritual warfare
scholars believe the man was not influenced by ordinary demons, but was
also in the grip of the strong man or the principality ruling the
region. This evil fallen angel was using this pitiful man as a channel
to paralyze the population with fear. After he was powerfully
delivered, Jesus departed then returned later and was welcomed by the
people. The power of darkness over the region had been broken by Jesus
in a ferocious battle that began in solitary prayer, was manifested in
a vicious storm, and climaxed with a great miracle. It was not enough
to pray, they also had to survive the storm to get to where the need
was. The demonized man was set free and the gospel penetrated a new
region and touched many peoples’ lives. Jesus the healer was on the
scene.

The Bitter Pool Preventing Healing Flow Gets Healed
This morning the Lord showed me and some intercessors the coming flow
of healing waters. But first, I saw that the Bitter Waters have to be
healed. In Exodus 15:22-27, the people had made it out of Egypt by a
three-day’s journey, only to become thirsty due to lack of water and
begin to murmur. At that point they encountered a pool of water but it
was bitter, perhaps poisonous from harsh minerals. The people
complained but Moses prayed.

This is the choice all of us have to make on our journey when we
encounter trials and obstacles that both hurt and hinder. None of us
will be spared the trials of life. We all will be tested. The question
is: What do we do during our trial of faith? Do we discard our hope,
start murmuring and griping, and turn away from following the Lord?
Moses showed us the right response when the pressure increased: he
turned to the Lord in prayer.

The Lord told Moses to toss a tree into the water. This prophetic act
shows us today that the answer to life’s bitter experiences is found in
the Tree of Life, the Cross of Jesus Christ. We will never become so
spiritual that we no longer need to take ourselves back to the cross to
deal with our sinful nature, our unbelief, or our fear. The tree tossed
into the bitter water made it sweet.

In the New Testament, James talked much about what flows out of our
soul: either bitter water or sweet water. He said this ought not to be
(James 3:1-12). When we feel the pressure to sin with our tongue  the
possibility of judging, the chance to exalt our self, the biting word
that contains subtle accusation, the cold love of suspicious slander 
and let that venom flow off our tongue, we show proof that the bitter
pool still has a residue in our soul.

The cure is still the same: the Tree upon which Jesus died to set us
free. He took the curse to give us the blessing. We can’t earn it, only
receive it.

I enjoy what Bible teacher Derek Prince said about this incident. It
not only displayed the cure for life’s bitter experiences (salvation by
the cross), it also introduced a new revelation of God to his people:
he is the Lord our Healer! All of us have ailments, but God is our
Healer. The healing we need the most is invisible to most: inner
healing or emotional healing for our soul.

Unhealthy emotions are a bigger hindrance to the Spirit-filled life
than is the lack of the anointing. It’s the dirty vessel that muddies
the clean flow out of our life in ministry or relationships.

In the light of these truths, the Lord cautioned me today that despite
persevering through our trials and battles, we have to be very careful
not to let out hearts be hardened. The danger is that we start out
with tender hearts but lose intimacy with God and sensitivity to one
another in the heat of battle or the length of the journey. I have a
friend who is a spiritual advisor to me in the Lord, Anita, a dear lady
of mature years and wisdom. She recently underwent abdominal surgery to
repair an old surgical scar. During her recovery she said, “I never
thought it would take this long or be this hard.” Does this describe
what you are feeling?

The Lord showed me Hebrews 3:7-13 which reads, “Therefore the Holy
Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts’…
but encourage one another.”

The condition of our heart is our own responsibility. We make choices
which harden or soften our hearts. For example, the decision to repent
is a choice. The decision to hold a grudge is a choice. The decision to
humble ourselves is a choice. The decision not to trust someone is a
choice. The decision to hear what the Spirit is saying is also a
choice. These choices, done once and never retracted, will affect the
condition of our heart into the foreseeable future.

Failure to hear and respond in faith when God speaks to us is called
“an evil and unbelieving heart” and God’s reaction to willful unbelief
is anger, judgment, and eventually, our disinheritance. The Lord wants
our hearts tenderized and able to love freely, void of imbedded
offenses.

One tool that pours healing salve into our hearts is prophecy. This
gift of the Holy Spirit, more than any other gift, ministers
encouragement to believers. Perhaps that’s why the devil targets
prophets and prophecy so much: he wants Christians to have weak hearts!
So he tries to control prophets with condemnation, or keep them outside
the circle of leadership, or discredit the operation of the gift of
prophecy so it won’t be permitted among the saints.

As I’ve dealt with issues in my own life where my heart needed healing,
and also as I’ve attempted to help others, especially leaders who carry
deep hurts from decades of being wounded while serving God’s house, I
have often tried to be patient and sympathetic sometimes beyond the
degree of mercy God allows. The Lord recently said to me, “My kindness
is revealed in my severity.” He also said to me, “Don’t be more
sympathetic with stubbornness than I am.” God’s cure may seem severe,
but he only hurts us (with truth, in love) in order to heal us.

When a bitter pool is all that we’ve ever drank from, we’re in danger
of becoming a fountain of bitterness. The writer of Hebrews warns us,
“See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of
bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.”
(Heb 12:15 NASB)

The word defiled is a strong word. In the Greek, the original word is
the root word for miasma, an old medical term for a disease
mysteriously spreading on the air. A root of bitterness, once released
through spoken words, spreads inexorably like an airborne plague from
patient to patient until everyone is sick. Once made ill, the only cure
is the biblical application of repentance: the axe has to be laid to
the root. That’s what John the Baptist said he was doing with his
radical preaching (Matt 3:10). The prophet used his ax.

This verse in Hebrews about causing trouble is an instruction to all
believers. Bitterness in one person will have an effect on other
people. This is especially true if the bitterness is coming from
leaders with authority. Pastors of churches as well as all believers
have a responsibility. There is something we are to see to, tend to,
take care of; this issue of bitter hearts.

Bitterness has stages of growth or degrees of infection. Like a plant,
it has a root and it has a shoot. The root of bitterness is at first
invisible, buried beneath the surface. No one knows it is there but the
original carrier, and they’ve covered it over for so long they’ve
forgotten it. The shoot is the first evidence of a sick heart,
bitterness in its early stages, barely discernible to casual contacts,
often manifested as the spirit of rejection or the spirit of control.
The trouble is the evidence of bitterness in its mature stages. Close
contact, especially covenant love, feels it the most keenly.
Relationships split and accusations fly. Trouble multiplies quickly.
The defilement is the end result of this assault from Satan left
unchecked: embittered souls who are no longer of any use to God or man,
the kingdom or the church.

We have a responsibility. We are to see to it that no bitter root is
allowed to remain in us. If you see it, expose it. Only after you see
it can you repent of it and expel it. This scripture also tells us that
it is possible to come short of the grace of God. This is a sobering
realization.

The grace of God, as powerful as it is, can be frustrated by two
things: imposing extra-biblical authority and judging one another with
words of suspicion or accusation. The Bible is quite clear on this:
legalism or criticism grieves the Holy Spirit and nullifies God’s
grace. In an atmosphere of such poison, healing is distant and disease
is common.

The bitter taste in our mouth always has a root cause. It had to come
from somewhere. We had to swallow it for it to be inside us. When did
it happen? Where did it come from? Often we find its source in failed
or dysfunctional families, legalistic churches, injustice, or abuse.
Regardless of its source, the healing water of the Lord’s grace can put
a sweet taste back on our tongue!

By returning to the Lord in repentance and prayer, we find salvation
for our sick souls and freedom from slavery to controlling spirits. Not
only that, but we will witness outbreaks of unforced grace that will
put on display God’s great healing power to the glory of our Risen
Savior. I’ve seen it before and I will see it again. The Lord has even
promised me that creative miracles will occur. Why? Because I’m so
special? Or I have such great faith? Of course not! It is only because
of the loving nature of God- He is our Healer!

The Floating Ax Shows God’s Hand Is At Hand
The final word God gave me today came through a prophetic intercessor
named Lori. She showed me a scripture after I had discussed the Bitter
Pool. She pointed me to 2 Kings 6:1-15. As she showed it to me in her
Bible, amazing insight suddenly gripped my mind.

A company of prophets were growing larger and needing a bigger place to
meet. They asked Elisha, their leader, to go with them. They went to
the river to cut timber for building. One young man’s ax came off the
handle and flew into the water. Dismayed, he cried out, “It was
borrowed!” Elisha tossed a branch into the water and the ax floated up.
The young man put forth his hand and took up the ax.

Here’s the interpretation and prophetic application I saw today. The
place of the prophetic company has become cramped. God is enlarging
their place (space, grace). This is important because prophets are
forerunners and also because they deal with religious idolatry and they
call for repentance to prepare the way for God to build on the cleared
ground. This is no light thing. (Think you are ready to receive
apostles? When was the last time you received a prophet? What did you
do with the word he spoke? If you didn’t receive the prophet, you’re
certainly not ready for apostles.)

The prophetic company moved camp to be near deep water (so deep the ax
was lost). When they moved, they asked Elisha, the Double-Anointed man,
to go with them. He went! That’s good news! They started to cut timber
and build, but resources were slim (it was a borrowed ax). The branch
that was tossed in the water was another sign of the cross of Jesus,
The True Branch (John 15). When Jesus came on the scene, the ax came to
the surface!

Hear this: The ax is being restored into our hand today! If you put an
ax into a prophet’s hand, he (or she) will use it to cut off roots so
dead trees can go ahead and fall. If you put an ax into an apostle’s
hand, he (or she) will cut timber and build with it. Whether warring or
building, whether prophet or apostle, the ax symbolizes tools, Holy
Spirit grace-gifts, to get the job done.

The ax is a sign of supernatural power coming back into high level
operation in the church today not just through foundation ministries
like apostles or prophets, but through believers who will step out in
faith united with Jesus our Lord. In our day, the tools will be paid
for with abundant provisions. The ax is rising to the surface out of
the deep waters of worship. Tomorrow won’t be like yesterday.

Back to the beginning, to Exodus 15:27. When Moses led the children of
Israel forth, after they made it past the Bitter Waters, they came to
Elim. This is significant. It was worth the effort. At this camping
place, they found Twelve springs of water and Seventy date palms. The
next time we see 12 and 70 is when Jesus is Training the Twelve and
Sending the Seventy to heal the sick, drive out devils, and proclaim
the gospel of the kingdom (Luke 9:1; Luke 10:1)

Past our bitter waters of today, what lies ahead? I see apostolic power
to heal and a new season of commissioning new workers. A few years ago
I asked the Lord “Where are we on the time-line of Jesus?” He answered,
“In-between the Training of the Twelve and the Sending of the
Seventy.”

What was that season like in Jesus’ day? It was filled with unbelief,
carnal behavior by young Christians, competition between the young
apostles as to who was the greatest, powerlessness before suffering
humanity shown by their inability to drive out a demon from a
defenseless little boy, and prideful jockeying for position in the
kingdom. Sound familiar?

All this in Luke 9 and 10 while Jesus was praying on the mountain top,
bathed in glory, meeting with Moses and Elijah, being affirmed by the
Father’s voice, then coming down to finish the work of equipping his
infantile apostles for the work he would shortly delegate to them as he
turned and went to the cross.

Jesus has more faith for us, that we’ll make it, than we do for
ourselves.

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

“The Killer Storm, the Bitter Pool, and the Prophet’s Ax” © 2005 by
Ron Wood, P.O. Box 12749 Wilmington, NC 28405
Write us at ron@touchedbygrace.org
Subscribe or unsubscribe at www.touchedbygrace.org

We are touched by grace to touch the world!

Change Your Position

2005-05-14T12:01:00.000-04:00

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

2005-05-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

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

Where is the Lord God of Elijah?

2005-02-07T11:58:00.000-05:00

This word is by a prophetic prayer warrior who often gains accurate
insights by the Spirit of Jesus. I’ve learned to pay attention to what
the Spiritshows her and to trust the prayer-agenda she frequently
carries. I particularly like this word and can relate to it personally
in this season of conflict so I wanted to share it with you. Enjoy!

Ron Wood, President
Touched By Grace Ministries

Where is the Lord God of Elijah?
By Debbie Davis

I believe the prophets and those prophetically gifted are about to
receive increase and are now in the place of war over new mantles and
increased authority. You may have been sensing intense opposition,
discouragement or frustration and even had desires to quit. I have
learned that when I get in this season of discouragement and
frustration, it is usually an attack on the prophetic gift and sent to
distract me from prayer, prophecy and intercession. I encourage you to
press in to hear the Word of the Lord, to see what He would promise in
this season and to activate what you have been shown. Wait patiently
before the Lord. He wants to release revelation and strategy in an
increased measure. Don’t give up. We are going somewhere!

There is beginning to be a release of seeing and hearing by the Spirit
that surpasses anything we have experienced. Many who are prophetically
gifted have recently had physical problems in the area of eyesight or
hearing. It is an attack in the physical to what God is getting ready
to do in the spiritual. Ask and believe for the seer's anointing.
Yahweh wants us to hear
with precision, to clearly see His purpose, His plans, His revelations
and His strategies. He wants us to see beyond the natural into the
supernatural. He desires to move us into increased power and authority
which requires increased prayer time, faith and complete obedience.

There is a process to mature us. We are a progressive work. Don't
become weary in the process. The Word of God tells us that we are being
changed from glory to glory, being transformed into His image. We are
being trained to reign, learning to be over-comers, and rising to the
call to be more than conquerors. We have tests and trials, and possibly
scars to show that we are
in a process. We are enduring that which is designed to build godly
character. God is about to raise up and set in place more prophets who
have been in training and have submitted to the building of their
character. These will come out to confront sin, idolatry, corruption,
and even the corrupt religious systems.

God is awakening watchmen in this hour. There is a release of the
seer’s anointing and the call to watch is being issued. Because Elijah
waited in prayer and communed with God, he was able to see what God was
going to do. He spoke with expectation that God would perform His
word! Elijah was sensitive to the timing of the Lord God. The watchmen
are getting ready to see more clearly than ever before, but they must
be prepared to go forth in a pure obedience with what they have seen
and heard. God wants us to see as He sees and use it to advance His
Kingdom on the earth. He wants us to be prepared by spending time in
prayer and fellowship with the Almighty. The watchman has the ability
to see approaching trouble and bring warning. The true condition of the
church is about to be unveiled to prophetic intercessors and prophets.

The watchmen are to hear what God is saying and speak whatever He
commands them to speak. They are to see what is coming, to warn both
the wicked and the righteous of sin, and to call people to repentance
(Isaiah 62:6-7). God will use His holy watchmen to wake up His people
and to cleanse the house of God.

Judgment always begins in the house of God because we are to be an
example to the lost and dying world. A cleansing fire is about to be
released again. This fire will make the way for the signs and wonders,
the miracles, and the power of God to return to the Body of Christ.
This is a time when the true prophets of God will emerge and shine.
They will not compromise! These will
deal with idolatry, with sin, and with pollution. Study how Yahweh used
Ezekiel. Read Ezekiel Chapters 1 through 36 to get a deeper
understanding of what type of prophet I am referring to. They will not
be moved by the opinion of man, by the hardness of men’s hearts, or by
fears but they will only operate in pure obedience to their God.

We live in a society that is spiritually deaf. We have surpassed Sodom
and Gomorrah and the Days of Noah with our wickedness. Sin goes
unacknowledged and permeates society from the old to the young. Where
is the Lord God of Elijah? Well, where are the prophets who will
confront sin and wickedness? Who will destroy idolatry? Who will take
on the spirit of Jezebel and the corrupt religious systems so that the
power of God will fall on the church? Come out of the cave. It is time
for some Mount Carmel showdowns.

The refiner’s fire is coming again to the church. The fire of Holy
Spirit is coming to burn out impurities. The Spirit of Truth is coming
like never before. The hidden will be exposed; and the covered will be
uncovered. Get ready. This is to prepare us for the unleashing of the
supernatural back into God’s people. The power gifts will be restored
to the true believers. No longer will people be able to call
themselves Christians and not represent the one true God. You will
suffer if you call yourself a Christian and continue in adultery,
pornography, lusts of the flesh, or other sinful selfish practices. We
owe it to Our Beloved to be the glorious church, the spotless bride
(Ephesians 5:26-27).

The early church was powerful because they practiced what they
preached. They were not tied up with meetings on doctrines, theories,
ideas or man's methods. The apostles did not set up meetings to explain
the experience of the upper room. They didn’t debate the speaking of
tongues on the day of Pentecost. They were more interested in the power
they had experienced and
the fact that they were equipped to do the works of God. After they
experienced this move of Holy Spirit, they went to heal the sick, cast
out demons, and to see souls saved. They were busy doing the work God
had called them to do. They went from house to house spreading the word
of God and doing what He called them to do. God wants action. The day
of staying in the safe confines of the church building is about to come
to an end.

God is about to give honor where honor is due (Romans 13:7). To exalt
those who have humbled themselves and bring low those who are proud. We
are to honor those in authority but not be controlled by man. It will
be dangerous in this season to put any man on a pedestal. God is the
only one we worship. Jesus set the example of the relationship with
the apostles by living WITH them not above them or separate from them.
We should be comfortable around those who lead us. If you are fearful
of those you serve under there is a problem. God is dealing with Fear
of man and the man pleasing spirit in a big way. The only fear we can
afford to have now is The Fear of the Lord!

Holy Spirit is preparing us for more. God wants to advance us into that
place of exercising our gifts with power and great faith, expecting Him
to move. We need to press in to see the move of Holy Spirit like never
before and to see Yahweh’s power unleashed again. Signs and wonders,
miracles, words of knowledge, etc.

The reason we are feeling opposition so strongly is because increase is
very close. The voice of the prophet is going to be heard. God is
dealing with the hearts of many leaders who have rejected or neglected
the prophets. True apostles will seek out the prophet and honor them.
The five fold will be established and in operation before the power
will return to the church. This is God’s order. Church government is
about to change. Pray for and command the church to wake up and to
repent. Make declaration, proclamation, speak faith, go to war. We have
to deal with lukewarm ness. Cry out for passion for Jesus and
everything He represents! The Laodicean church thought they had need of
nothing! They were half-hearted about the things of God and their
commitment to Him because they had worldly goods. Repent for lukewarm
ness, complacency, hypocrisy, coldness, immorality, profanity and
worldliness.

God’s power will be operating through those who have made a commitment
to Holiness. He is looking again for those who are wholehearted with
commitment to Him and are free from selfish motives. Many want God to
move but have selfish motives. The fire that is coming to the church
will separate the true from the false. It will separate the
hypocritical, lukewarm Christian
from the true follower of Jesus Christ. God is looking for the prophets
who will turn the hearts of God’s people back to Him. These prophets
will be about true Holiness and they will expose the imitation and the
false. This will make way for the glory of the Lord. The call to
repentance is being issued again.

God is speaking today loud and clear. He speaks through His word, His
Spirit and His prophets. He wants to use the prophets in this hour to
prepare the church for His Second Coming and to release the church into
her destiny. These prophets will call for change, and for shifting.
They will exhort, warn, command, rebuke, encourage and correct in the
love and because of the
love of Jesus. They will not be man pleasers but will be bold to press
past man’s reward system, popularity, position, titles or man’s
acceptance. This will release the people to see the true condition of
their hearts by bringing forth the Word of the Lord.

Prepare to receive a new prophetic mantle. Are you ready to confront
corruption and deception? Can you be used to expose sin, pray for the
spiritually blind and deaf, break man’s traditions and false doctrines?
Without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Hebrews12: 14). Are you
prepared to stand against the powers of darkness that have been used to
war against the church? Can Yahweh use you for restoration and revival?
Can God use you to be a prophetic voice that cries for change? This
calls for a bold people filled with courage because they are hearing
the Word of the Lord and have hearts of obedience.

We have the choice in this season to become like Eli or like Samuel.
Nathan had to confront a King. We have to be willing to speak about the
true condition of the church. Remembering always, God looks at the
heart. When we acknowledge there is a problem then we can pray
concerning the solution. God is getting ready to shake the old, the
dead, and the dry in order to bring
in the new, the alive, the refreshing. We have to operate in the fear
of the Lord and move with passion for Jesus and compassion for the
lost. God is about to turn the eyes of the church off of themselves and
back to Him and those who need Him. God wants to prepare the church for
what is ahead and to get us on a secure foundation…Him! Remember 2
Timothy 3:1, there will be tough times ahead. We have to examine
ourselves and make sure we are not the people mentioned in 2 Timothy
3:1-5 but be the Isaiah 61 people of God.

Let us become the people that declare as Elijah did, "Lord God of
Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou God
in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these
things at thy word." Elijah was not concerned about pleasing people or
proving his power as a prophet. He wanted to display the power of God
and see His glory manifested
to show He is the all-powerful God.

After the altar of the Lord was restored, the fire of God fell from
heaven to consume the sacrifice. Elijah had prepared the altar in a
fashion that God’s power could not be denied. Everything was consumed.
The supernatural power of God was displayed for the unbeliever. The
response was then and now will be, "The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He
is God."

Can you agree in prayer with me for the Spirit of Elijah and for the
rebuilding of the Altar of God?
1. Worldliness to be exposed and dealt with and a standard of holiness
raised up
2. The fear of the Lord to replace the fear of man
3. Dependence of God instead of leaning on the arm of the flesh
4. Worship in Spirit and in Truth; move past spectatorship and
entertainment
5. Die to self and self-centeredness
6. A new burden, passion for the unsaved
7. Passion to replace complacency
8. Show us where we have been half-hearted; replace it with true
dedication
9. 100% obedience instead of partial obedience
10. Hatred for sin and the ability to not compromise
11. Humility instead of pride and self-exaltation
12. Unselfishness and a servant's heart
13. The Spirit of Elijah to confront the Spirit of Jezebel

Where is the Lord God of Elijah? Could He be waiting on the prophets
who will be bold enough to call down fire from heaven? Could He be
calling out the Elijahs, the Samuels, the Nathans for today’s
generation? Ask!

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

Debbie Davis, January 31, 2005. Debbie leads the intercessory prayer
team at The Rock in Wilmington, NC, led by Pastor Ron McGee. She can be
reached by email at soundthealarmdd@juno.com.

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

Feel free to forward this to your friends. To subscribe or unsubscribe,
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America's Josiah Season

2004-11-09T11:29:00.000-05:00

Two days after the U.S. election, the Lord twice gave me a Scripture
which has two layers of prophetic application. Many Americans prayed in
desperation for mercy for America and for God’s will to be done in the
selection of our president.

“Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord
when you heard what I spoke… I truly have heard you…” (2 Kings 22:19
NAS) These are the words of a simple prophetess spoken to a repentant
king.

Josiah was the king of Judah when the book of the law was found in the
house of the Lord. Due to tremendous apostasy and gross idolatry, great
moral confusion had gripped the culture and unimaginable neglect of
God’s ways had become the norm in Israel.

Financial House in Order
From his youth, Josiah walked in the ways of David. In his tenth year
of reign (he was only 18 years old) he started setting “things in
order” by turning offerings over to the workmen repairing the house of
the Lord. He said, “No accounting shall be made with them… for they
deal faithfully.” He delegated the work and released dedicated funds.

Financial reform is more than just reducing the national debt, or
wisely using welfare, or governments eliminating roadblocks to small
business, but it includes religious affairs as well. In the kingdom of
God, we are seeing a return to entrustment of large sums to missional
ministry teams led by pioneering catalytic leaders who implement
effective transformations. These leaders can be trusted with financial
responsibility due to their personal integrity and their proven track
record of honest dealings. We need to take a lesson from Josiah: get
the funds into the hands of people who can do the work, then get out of
their way.

Financial reform started a spiritual reformation, for in the process of
doing their job, they discovered the Scriptures. As Derek Prince used
to say, “You treat God the same way you treat your Bible.” In other
words, we relate to God the same way as we relate to His word: either
respect it and obey it, or neglect it and thus despise God’s rule in
our lives.

Josiah’s response to God’s Word was to humble his soul, tear his
clothes, and seek the Lord. He repented for how ignorant and how wrong
they had been. Huldah the prophetess answered the king and interpreted
the times for Josiah. She revealed God’s heart and showed how the Lord
had been watching Josiah’s reaction to His written word.

Respect the Scriptures
Josiah gathered the people and read them their sacred Scriptures.
Josiah began to lead them in a process of national reformation. They
tore down their high places, halted gross immorality, desecrated and
destroyed the altars to alien gods, cleansed their land of defilement,
and reinstituted the true worship of Jehovah. It is hard for us to
imagine the depth of depravity their culture had embraced.

Great blessing and prosperity accompanied these reforms. This is always
the case when the salt and light of God’s superior society by living
and upholding God’s wisdom and God’s ways as shown in the Bible is
injected into any culture. Much later, Josiah foolishly went to battle
with an Egyptian force and was killed in an unnecessary engagement.
Perhaps the pride of success had gone to his head. But regardless, he
had served his generation in an honorable way.

The righteous judgments that were due to Judah as a nation were
forestalled for a generation due to the courageous leadership of a
great reformer. Josiah took advantage of a season of a revival of
values to institute necessary reforms to forestall divine wrath.

By turning to the word of God in repentance and by pursuing what was
right (this is faith in action), they preserved the kingdom and blessed
the people. In the next generation, sadly, leaders once again turned
back to a failed policy of wickedness, immorality, and idolatry. They
departed from God’s truth and disrespected the consequences of sin. The
nation of Judah became terribly oppressed and was then finally carried
away into captivity.

God indeed deals with nations, not just individuals. Nations, like
individuals, have divine destinies (prophetically envisioned
opportunities) that can be achieved or thwarted.

As Josiah went about his process of reforming Judah, he deliberately
destroyed the unholy places which had corrupted his nation. In a free
society, sinful people will build idols or create institutions or
foster movements that are like smokestacks streaming pollutants into
the air. These strongholds of sin are often defended by foolish people
in the name of liberty or personal rights. In America, some of these
smokestacks are labeled “media.” They are often sources of lies and
deceit: casting spells, belching accusations.

On one campaign, Josiah encountered a memorial. Was it a place of false
worship? He asked, “What is this monument I see?” The men of the city
told him, “It is the grave of the man of God who… proclaimed these
things which you have done against the altar of Bethel.” (23:17) Josiah
determined not to desecrate the burial site of the prophets who had
spoken against idolatry, saying, “Let no one disturb his bones.”

The Bones of the Prophets
The bones of the prophets lead us to the second warning. When God gives
a word concerning evil powers or wicked forces that are infecting our
religious or national culture, spokesmen who are hearing and declaring
God’s word, the Lord’s agents of change, need to be very careful. They
need to be humble and careful to fully obey.

Many a hillside is littered with the bones of the prophets. It makes
the soil crusty and hard to plow.

Jokingly, I used to say whenever I saw an old-fashioned country church
surrounded by a cemetery with the graves of parishioners, “Those are
the graves of the pastors they stoned.” Some of that is undoubtedly
true. Religious demons can inflame people to act like the devil. But
the burial plot Josiah uncovered wasn’t of prophets who had been killed
by the people, but prophets who had only partially obeyed the Lord and
were subsequently killed by God.

Any time a prophet is sent by God and has an assignment to take on,
address, or confront an idol, a throne, a principality, or a dominion,
or is told to rebuke a demonic horde which has become incarnate in a
human being who has authority over people (perhaps a dictator), that
prophet is walking into a dangerous place with a very specific mission
with narrow parameters of safety. Picture Elijah as he confronted Ahab
and Jezebel.

The only safe place for prophets of war is a posture of total obedience
from start to finish. Not all prophets are called to engage in such
front-line skirmishes. If they do, they need to be aligned with God’s
generals, apostles of transformation, and they need to be covered by a
shield of intercessors.

The modern Josiahs and the prophets who precede them (or accompany
them) are agents of God’s kingdom helping the redemption of Christ move
from the cross into the culture, beyond individual salvation to
affecting degrees of transformation among the nations.

Sunday, I had a vision of Christ on the cross looking down at potential
leaders being gathered for “investment” by His mantle. We had just
heard of young ministers in Greece being prepared to plant churches and
gospel schools in Iraq. I had just read of Chinese house church leaders
sending out missionaries to the Middle East in a “Back to Jerusalem”
movement. I thought of the Scripture, “He stood and surveyed the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.” (Habakkuk 3:6 NAS)

The eyes of the Lord are still searching for those whose hearts are
toward Him. He is still watching to see who will respond with
conviction when they hear His word. He is looking from the cross for
those who are unafraid of death in order to release life for the
nations to be saved.

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

© 2004 by Ron Wood, Touched by Grace Ministry, P.O. Box 12749,
Wilmington, NC 28405 USA. Permission to copy provided content and
byline are intact. For more resources, visit www.touchedbygrace.org.
Write us at ron@touchedbygrace.org.

Captains of Thousands

2004-10-31T11:28:00.000-05:00

I awoke with a dream of thousands of men—mobilized men—gathering in
force with the same enthusiastic passion like men display when their
favorite team is winning in a sports stadium. I saw someone pointing
out three men as they entered an elevator and I heard him say about
them with pride, “Those men are Captains of Thousands. The older man is
only 40 and his team has 50,000 men; the younger man is 35 and he has
4,000; the youngest is only thirty and he already has a thousand.”

I thought, “What teams? Captains of what?” Then insight came to me.
This was the Lord’s call for men to join up as soldiers in his army, to
battle and to win the holy war of Jesus against sin, the devil, and
their own frail flesh. It is a daily battle any man can wage from any
arena, and he doesn’t have to quit his daytime job to do it. It is a
prayer-war!

The Bible says, “I want men to pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands
without wrath or dissension.” Men have great power…when they pray.
This is especially true if they pray after dealing with their issues of
anger or divisiveness. And what man is there, if he’s got any drive or
sense of dignity, hasn’t had some occasion to stumble in these areas?
Satan knows this, so he uses a variety of attacks to keep us men from
praying effectively.

If we deal with our sin first, then our hands can be lifted up in
prayer or praise without shame. Faith in Christ to save us and faith in
Christ to cleanse us when we confess our sins gives us confidence to
pray. Our uplifted hands or our raised voices can become mighty
anointed weapons of nation-shaking life-changing prayer!

The Bible says, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much.” Two questions occur: Are we righteous? Are we praying
fervently? Realize: prayer can accomplish many good things…if. Yes, we
are righteous, if we are trusting in Jesus. That’s justification by
faith, and it is a gift of grace. And, yes, we are righteous, if we
have confessed and forsaken any sin that shames us. That’s simply
living right based on obeying God’s word. That’s how simple it is.
That’s how God qualifies us to become prayer warriors.

If prayer is so powerful, then how do we deploy it for maximum effect?

Then an idea flashed into my mind as a tactic for men to use. How can
we pray when we are all so busy, especially if we want to harmonize
with other praying men? Well, let me ask you: Have you ever made a cell
phone call while you were driving in your car? On during your lunch
break?

One of the secrets to effective prayer is what Jesus described in
Matthew 18:19. I call it, “the power of small numbers.” He revealed
this secret about prayer when He said, “If two of you agree together in
my name…” The secret to powerful prayer is not in giant gatherings, but
in small agreements. Like a tiny mustard seed, it can grow to have a
huge effect.

I saw men in my dream using modern technology-- cell phones-- to
connect with other men, then sometimes using three-way-calling to bring
a third man on line. These three men could pray one after the other on
the phone, using short one-sentence prayers which the other men could
say “amen” to. That is simply the “prayer of agreement.” There is
nothing more powerful in God’s arsenal, except perhaps fasting coupled
with prayer.

In my dream, these men prayed for three things: 1) for Christ’s kingdom
to advance through the gospel; 2) for the blessings of God to prosper
their business; 3) and for their family members to be equipped to fill
the earth with a new generation of leaders.

I heard the Lord’s heart as He said to us men like a coach challenging
his team during the championship season, “Take back what Adam
forfeited. Fill the earth with the seed of the righteous. Regain
dominion in the name of My Son. Believe in what I’ve told you. Claim
the inheritance I’ve promised you. This land is your land. Give glory
to the Coming King who has redeemed mankind with His blood.”

If we prayed three times a day like Daniel did, we could easily create
a network of thousands who unite in prayer. One man calls three, then
those three men can call three, then those three can call three, etc.
It multiplies without effort! We can make one call in the morning, one
at noon, and one in the evening. We can connect with 2 or 3 men each
time, and each time we do it we can extend a network of prayer.
Mobilized men using mobile telephones, elevating their issues to an
agenda of prayer, boldly asking in faith for God’s will to be done on
the earth and in their families and their work.

What if every man who loves Jesus simply called his friends in order to
pray on the phone together for our nation and prayed for the right
people to be elected? What if they in turn did it with their contact
list? I’ve done this myself for years: long-distance praying with my
partners in the work of Christ. Touch base, then pray.

We can use our cell phone to create prayer-cells! We can multiply the
power of small numbers by each one calling one, and so on, and so on,
until we have tens of thousands in our down-line and heaven takes
notice and calls us, “Captains of Thousands.”

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

© 2004 by Ron Wood, President of Touched by Grace, PO. Box 12749,
Wilmington, NC 28405. Visit us at www.touchedbygrace.org. We are
touched by grace to touch the world! You may freely copy and share this
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Lord of the Breakthroughs!

2004-08-30T11:24:00.000-04:00

Our nation stands in need of a moral rebirth. Leadership seems
assaulted on every side, as though anarchy were desirable above any
government. Our personal lives or our ministries may seem filled with
frustration. The Church seems caught midway between revival and
restoration, or a return to religious irrelevancy. Indeed, this is a
day to seek the Lord.

The Lord spoke to some of us in worship just a short while ago that a
breakthrough was imminent, that the day of the release of the Lord from
our constraints was near at hand.

To illustrate this, picture a powerful, fearless horse that has been
hobbled. Capable of great strides, possessing amazing speed, yet
virtually immobilized by simple loops of weak rope tied around its
ankles.

A hobbled horse is impotent. But God promises to loose their power:
“For the Lord of hosts (armies) has visited His flock…And will make
them like His majestic horse in battle…” (Zech. 10:3 NAS)

In order to use his God-given strength, a war horse has to be
un-hobbled. He needs a breakthrough so he can break out and break forth
and run the race.

When I heard this word, “breakthrough,” intercessors had already heard
it. Prophetic worshippers zeroed in on it next. I simply caught the
persistent highlights of the Holy Spirit’s word to the church. “He who
has an ear, let him hear what the Sprit says to the churches.” (Rev.
2:17 NAS)

Later, the Lord presented this same word to us again, only now in the
sense of finishing what had already been started. Prophetic
intercessors were told: Pray through for your Breakthrough!

You may never have heard the expression, “I’ve prayed through about
it.” Older saints know what this is. I used to hear my mother use this
expression a lot. When you’ve done it, you know it. It means to press
your case in prayer, to not let up, to not give up, until you have the
inward assurance from the Lord that you have been heard on high. John
said “And if we know that He hears us, we know we have the requests
which we have asked from Him.” (1 John 5:15 NAS)

You’ve prayed through when you know you have the answer, when you know
your cry has been heard in heaven.

Why do we need to pray for something that God has already promised? In
the natural, it doesn’t make sense, does it? But in the kingdom of God,
we are co-laborers with the Lord. This is the great mystery and also
the great privilege of prayer. God’s will is only potential until it is
activated on earth by our obedience and by our faith. Therefore, to be
able to hear the Spirit’s prompting and pray God’s agenda into reality
is vital to our success.

For me, one of the questions is how to know what is my part versus
knowing what is God’s part. What will God do? What do I have to do? As
we mature in the Lord, this balance can change and may require more
discernment.

In Ezekiel 36:37 God says, “This also I will let the House of Israel
ask Me to do for them…” Yet God had already promised to do it ten
times, saying in the preceding verses, “I will…” Why is this? We play
an important role in advancing God’s kingdom. God’s will and our will
must line up, first in prayer, and then in our obedience of faith.

There is genuine power associated with following up on prophetic
promises. There is a big difference between praying to discover God’s
will and praying fervently for God’s will to be done on earth once His
will is revealed to us. Once we know God’s will, it is rebellious for
us to pray a weak or uncertain “if it be Thy will” kind of a prayer.

When the Spirit of God speaks forth the heart and mind of the Lord (and
that will always line up with the Bible), we know what the will of God
is. Then we have to act on what we’ve heard. We can realize we’ve been
authorized to petition the Lord for this very thing. We can pray with
confidence!

Knowing God’s will, we are energized by the Praying Spirit to resist
Satan’s discouragements and his robberies. By faith, we can be
confident and persistent in pressing our claim by both private and
corporate prayer. (Never forget the power of small groups!) We can
prevail in our battle by using the spiritual weapon of praise. We can
exercise powerful agreement by harmonizing with the Scriptures and by
agreeing with prophetic declarations as they are spoken to the church.

When I heard this word from the Lord, I immediately thought of the
occasion when King David had been installed and yet vicious new enemies
rose up to destroy him. This insightful story is found in 2 Samuel 5.
This is an amazing analogy and illustration of coming to power to lead
God’s people in a kingdom dynamic amidst great conflict.

David was a shepherd who served his father. After being chosen by God
and anointed by a prophet, he was harassed and chased by Saul for
years, yet he kept his integrity and upheld his honor toward authority
even when it mistreated him. Finally, he ruled over Judah for 7 years
and was then anointed by Israel as king for another 33 years. He was a
type of Christ in these matters. He also is a type (O. T. symbol or
shadow of a N. T. reality) of New Testament apostolic team development,
warring with the help of mighty men and prophets and using prayer and
praise and worship to win battles.

After David consolidated his victory and took the stronghold of Zion at
Jerusalem, a last great assault came against him from the Philistines
(modern term: Palestinians) in an effort by Satan to resist God’s
kingdom being established over His people and thus blessing them in
their inheritance in the land.

Look at David’s tactics in order to engage the enemy: he inquired of
the Lord (vs. 19), he acted on what he heard (vs. 20), and then God
gave him a mighty break-through! In fact, David named that place of
battle Baal-Perazim, “Master of the Breakthrough.”

Do you need a breakthrough? Then do something extraordinary! Add
fasting to your prayer. Get up earlier to pray more. Schedule private
prayer three times a day: morning, noon, and night. Meet up with a
prayer partner and agree together concerning key issues. Let your heart
become broken over the matter so that your tears are mingled with your
prayers. Pray according to Matthew 7:7- Ask, Seek, Knock.

What area have you felt hobbled in? In what areas have you felt defeat,
humiliation, confusion, delays, and frustration? Where the land is
being contested by the devil, our inheritance is likely buried. Here
lies the victory, if we hold on to our title-deed.

Hold on to your faith by choosing to believe what God has said. Let the
fire test your faith. If we keep our heart right and guard it from
wicked attitudes and feed our faith even when we are mistreated, if we
press the battle against the enemy and don’t become passive or pinned
down to the mat, then we can surely expect to see God break through in
our behalf.

The Lord doesn’t just give us a breakthrough-- He is our Breakthrough!
And with God, all things are possible.

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

© “Lord of the Breakthroughs” 2004 by Ron Wood, President of Touched By
Grace Inc., P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405. For resources, visit
our website at www.touchedbygrace.org. Permission is given to copy or
share this article as long as the content and byline remains intact. We
are touched by grace to touch the world!

Praying Like Daniel

2004-07-21T11:15:00.000-04:00

I agree with Chuck Pierce’s recent prophetic word that it is time to
pray like Daniel. It is also time to have Daniel’s heart toward God’s
purpose and God’s covenant people. I am re-releasing this word from a
brochure I first wrote in 1999. May it speak to your heart in a time of
intense spiritual conflict. May God enable us to possess all that Jesus
prayed for from the cross (Ps. 22).

DANIEL IN THE LIONS’ DEN
by Ron Wood

Three days in a row the Lord directed me in my early morning devotions
to the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. I didn’t get it at first. In
my season of life and ministry, I had been experiencing a year of
peculiar and intense attack against me. I felt like I had been chewed
up and spit out by a crafty enemy. The Lord had begun to instruct me
regarding how to pray. Was this another lesson? What was God saying to
me? Then I saw it and a light went off. Daniel never talked to the
lions.

Jesus said we could take up serpents (Mark 16), but he never said what
to do with lions. Lions are often pictured as enemies of prophets. “I
was rescued out of the lion’s mouth,” Paul said. (2 Tim. 4:17) This
referred to his intense spiritual battle with the idolatrous power
behind Diana, a territorial spirit worshiped by the Ephesians (Acts
19). After this experience, Paul wrote about standing against evil
powers in prayer. (Eph. 6:10-18)

The devil prowls about “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to
devour,” Peter said. (1 Peter 5:8) Peter knew what it was like for
Satan to desire to sift him and for his faith to be tested. (Luke
22:31) Have you ever been sifted? Has your faith ever been tested?
These are references to our spiritual warfare. The devil is a roaring,
devouring lion. That is still his fierce nature today.

A clear illustration of this otherwise invisible war occurred when the
prophet Daniel was cast into a lion’s den. The situation was not fair.
He was mistreated simply because he maintained his integrity in praying
to God. But God delivered him. Daniel testified, “My God sent his angel
and he shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I
was innocent in his sight.” (Daniel 6:22) Then the king put Daniel’s
accusers in with the lions. They were torn apart immediately. The lions
hadn’t lost their appetites. Their nature was still to devour and
destroy. But they couldn’t get to Daniel because of his angelic
protection. Their jaws were kept shut.

A Picture of Prayer
I have had hanging in my place of prayer a lovely sepia print of a
prized painting given me by my wife. It pictures Daniel in the den of
lions. Every time I look at it, the Lord speaks to my heart of Daniel’s
noble character and effective intercession. He was a prophet and a
statesman, a man who was blameless in his walk with God, faithful in
his duties, respectful in his attitudes even toward heathen rulers. He
is a model for me. Daniel was a man who had dreams and visions and
foretold the history of nations. He was a student of the Bible. He
wrote what he saw. He prayed for Israel’s restoration from captivity.
In my painting, Daniel is gaunt from frequent fasting. His back is
turned to the lions. The lions look puzzled and as they pace about
behind him. It is as though when they look toward Daniel they can’t
really see him, but see something else that makes them wary of
attacking. Daniel is oblivious to the lions. His face is turned toward
heaven. He is standing with his hands clasped behind his back. He is in
prayer.
In the Scriptures and in my painting, Daniel does not address the
lions. As far as we are told, he never rebuked them, never confronted
them, never commanded them, never bound them (except by prayers and
praises to God), never took authority over them. Instead, he ignored
their fearsome growls. He did not acknowledge their power over him. His
attention was on the Lord. He went over the lions’ heads to their
Creator, to the source of all power in the universe.

Daniel was an ambassador of a high er kingdom. He was using weapons of
a higher order, weapons of righteousness. His faith was manifest not in
bravado, but in humility and the fear of God. There is a lesson here
for us concerning spiritual warfare.
Most modern Americans were raised in a culture which disregards
authority. We don’t instantly become re newed in our thinking just
because we are born again. The spirit of this age, from which we have
drunk deeply, still affects our thought life.
This tendency can carry over into our prayer life. God is sometimes
approached as though our will is superior to His, as though our praye
rs can tell Him something He doesn’t already know. Instead of making
supplication, we make suggestions. And sometimes we do things in the
name of the Lord that are unwise, like assuming we–apart from God–can
force Satan to do our bidding.

Some demons have great er power because they are closer to the source
of evil. Jesus said this kind doesn’t go out except by fasting and
prayer (Mt. 17:21). Demonic powers that promote homosexuality,
abortion, idol worship, and false religion have great power to deceive.

Principalities and evil spirits were created by God with authority,
albeit now perverted, misused, and doomed to hell. Even thou gh Jesus
has triumphed over them, th ey should be dealt with carefully. Angels
know this. “But Michael the archangel when he disputed with the devil
and argued about the body of Mos es, did not dare pronounce against him
a railing judgment, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” (Jude 9)

Addressing the Father
To whom do you pray? Do you praise and entreat the Lord? Or do you
spend your time rebuking the devil? It is a subtle but serious heresy
to treat Satan as equal in power with God, to give him more attention
than he de serves. God alone is Creator and Redeemer. Satan and his
fallen angels, though vested with authority until the final judgment,
are trapped in this space-time world with mankind. We have a way of
escape; the devil does not. Only the Lord God stands outside of and
above time. He alone is Deity, worthy of worship. Gaze at God but only
glance at the devil. Don’t become distracted!

Focus your prayer time on God, not on your enemy. The more you see God
on the throne, the more authority you will have to pray. God owns all
authority. We have none, apart from Christ in us. We only have God’s
authority when He delegates it to us with a specific command that
commissions us. U sing authority casually can produce casualties.

There is a story in the Old Testament of a prophet sent to rebuke an
idolatrous altar. This was a high-level power encounter. When the
prophet rebuked the altar, it split in two. Yet that young proph et was
now on dangerous ground. An older prophet tricked him into disobeying
God. The young prophet, although successful in his mission, was eaten
by a lion on his trip home. Why did he lose his protection?
Disobedience!

There is a better way to do warfare. And it is not by shaking our fist
at the devil. That’s just shadow-boxing. It la nds no body blows. When
Jesus was tempt ed by the devil in the wilderness, he did not rail at
him. (Luke 4) Instead, he quot ed the written Word. He used the sword
of the Spirit against his foe. Jesus went on to accomplish complete
obedience to the Father and therefore was given all authority. (Phil.
2) Jesus succeeded by radical obedience. He stayed submitted to God,
declared the gospel, drove out demons, and gave his life on the cross.
His resurrection was the grand finale which prov ed he has all
authority in every realm.

Based on Jesus’ victory, we can petition God and win the battle, too.
We can pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven.” We can be anointed to set captives free. This is the miracle
of grace based on our union with Christ.
Daniel modeled intercessory prayer by repenting on behalf of his
people. He prayed to God, not to principalities or demons. He stood his
ground when the battle got fierce. Another model for this kind of
prayer was Queen Esther.

A Queen Saves a Nation
Esther became Queen to King Ahasuer us in Persia about 460 BC. Esther
was a Jew. A wicked plot was hatched by Haman to murder all the Jews.
Moredec ai enlisted Esther to entreat the King to abort the plot. After
a 3-day fast and by God’s divine intervention, the plot was thwart ed
and Haman was hanged on the very gallows intended for Mordecai.
In this episode, Esther never addressed Haman. She never rebuked him or
accused him. She did not get angry and shake her fist at Ham an.
Instead, she humbled her soul, show ed great respect for those in
authority (even Haman) then entreated the King with her petition.

She approached him with prop er protocol, trusting in his love,
despite the danger inherent in her mission. The lesson here is: Who has
the authority? If that person or that situation has power over your
life, where did they get it? Who do you appeal to for help? Do you
negotiate with the enemy? Or do you stand in your authority under God?
The Bible says we should turn to God’s throne for help. (see Hebrews
4:16)

When Jesus stood before Pilate awaiting sentencing, he said, “You would
have no authority over me if it were not given you from above.” (John
19:11) He entrusted himself to his Father. He didn’t panic and wonder
how Pilate had gotten the upper hand.
(In my recent posting, “Interview with an Apostle,” recall that the
apostle Paul never admitted to being a prisoner of Rome, but only of
Jesus!)

Do you have faith to believe that God knows what you are facing? What
disaster are you staring at? What evil or what trial has attracted your
gaze? Fight to win by fixing your gaze on the author of your faith,
Jesus Christ! Matthew 28 says Jesus has “all authority.” There is none
higher!

True spiritual warfare is best accomplished when we lift up our eyes to
Jesus and see the majesty of his kingdom, his power, and his glory.
From that place of humble worship, God’s word in our mouth can make
demons tremble, activate holy angels, move heaven and earth, and shape
the destiny of nations.

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

© 1999 by Ron Wood, President of Touched By Grace Inc. For information
write P.O. Box 12749, Wilmington, NC 28405. For resources visit
www.touchedbygrace.org. Permission to copy or share provided content
and byline remains unchanged. We are touched by grace to touch the
world!

The Year King Uzziah Died and The Death of Ronald Reagan

2004-06-09T13:37:00.000-04:00

D-Day celebrates the “Departure Day” when Allied Forces began their final push to liberate Europe from slavery to Nazi rule. Brave troops crossed the English Channel and landed on the beaches of Normandy, crossing “flak-filled skies and blood-soaked surf,” to quote former President Bush as he spoke last week at the dedication of the WWII Memorial. This bloody battle was the beginning of the end of the war. In this war, over 400,000 Americans fought and died. Tom Brokaw writes about these heroes in his book, “The Greatest Generation.”

Yesterday, on the day before D-Day, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, died quietly at his home in California. His death signals a significant new season in God’s purposes. In the next few pages, I want to tell you why.

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord.” (Isaiah 6:1)

These are the words of Isaiah the prophet. He set his visions into historical perspective, keying their timeframe to actual events and applying them to real-life issues. Who was Uzziah and why did it matter to Isaiah that he had died? We know Uzziah was the King of Judah.

What was the setting? Isaiah was ministering to the remnant of God’s covenant people still living in the land God had given them. This was before their idolatry brought final judgment. Israel had already been taken away; Judah’s fall was next. So he penned his words about 120 years before Judah’s captivity by Assyria in 586 BC, or about 700 years before the Christ was born. He not only accurately prophesied the fall of Judah and Israel’s later restoration, but he also perfectly described the sufferings of the coming Messiah on the cross in vivid detail (see Isaiah 53).

In this detail, Isaiah gave us perhaps the most memorable words of the Bible, vivid words describing the sacrificial suffering of Jesus for our sins, words that have now been repeated for millions and millions of viewers to see in the opening credits on the screen of the modern movie, The Passion of the Christ.

You could read in secular history that a man named Jesus died on a cross. But Isaiah the prophet showed us that His death was not that of an ordinary man. As an innocent lamb, Jesus took our place. He died to redeem us; to atone for our sins.

The significance of a prophet’s words when he is speaking under divine inspiration by the Spirit of God is not only what he says, but when he says it. Timing is everything for a prophet. By the Spirit of God, prophets inquire into times and seasons and seek to understand omens and events in the light of God’s revealed purpose. (1 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 1:19-21) This is what Isaiah did. We all need to discern the times.

When I heard the news of President Reagan’s death, I recalled his speeches. Surely he was “The Great Communicator.” When my children were young, they picked up on my respect for President Reagan and called him “Brother Reagan,” as though he were a pastor. And he was in a sense America’s “pastor.” But more than that, he had a sense of timing and a sense of purpose that worked with prophetic accuracy. His instincts as a leader were right. This confidence enabled him to confront communism without fear and instill hope in troubled times.

While considering President Reagan’s death, my brother Don called me on the phone to discuss it. When we hung up, I heard the Lord distinctly say to me, “This is an Isaiah Chapter Six Year.” What could that mean? I got out my Bible and read Isaiah’s account of the death of Uzziah and the events following. I began to pray for more understanding.

Uzziah came to power during turmoil when his nation was in conflict with a great enemy. As a leader, he did the right thing in the sight of God. Uzziah was helped by Godly prophets. No leader can govern alone– they need good counselors. Uzziah sought God and as long as he did so, The Bible says that he prospered (2 Chronicles 26:5). To prosper means to succeed.

Realism requires us to realize that the welfare of any nation depends on the righteousness of its leaders. Our prosperity and relative security in America are a phenomenon the world envies but does not understand. Let’s humbly admit that the source of our blessing isn’t just our resources or our system of government: our prosperity is from the Lord.

It matters whether or not national leaders acknowledge the Lord. In President Reagan, God gave us a man who feared God and believed in the triumph of truth. Indeed, America is designed and intended to always function with a leader who knows the Lord, if we are to remain a people blessed by God.

As I continued to ponder what the Lord had said, I began to search the Scriptures regarding Uzziah. I saw some amazing parallels to the life of President Reagan.

1. Uzziah sought the Lord and set himself against the Philistines. He identified evil for what it was. (2 Chron 26:6) In the same way, Ronald Reagan believed he had a “manifest destiny” or a call to lead our nation. In office, he rightly called the old Soviet Union what it was: “an evil empire.”

2. Uzziah wisely worked to strengthen Judah so his people would not be plundered by their enemy. (vs. 11 & 14) Likewise, Reagan oversaw the largest peacetime buildup of the United States military in our nation’s history.

3. Uzziah took military preparedness to another level: he worked to develop “engines of war” (vs. 15), weapons far more advanced than ever before. In a similar fashion, Reagan dared to push for the “Star Wars” defense system. This technological marvel pushed the stakes so high that along with Russia’s bankrupt socialistic economy, a sharp drop in global oil prices, and their inability to compete with America’s capitalism, that it broke the back of their communist system. Ronald Reagan won the Cold War.

Coincidentally, the end of Uzziah’s life was sadly marked by a lengthy debilitating disease. Uzziah, in his success, became guilty of arrogance and went beyond his office. In President Reagan, there was never any hint of pride, but always humility and humor that came from wisdom and an attractive self-effacing confidence. His boldness was born of being right, not of having an inflated ego.

When someone told him he really was The Great Communicator, he said, “No, I just communicate great ideas.” When someone saw him pray after taking a seat on an airplane and asked him if he was praying to be kept safe, he said, “No, I was asking the Lord to take care of Nancy if something should happen to me.”

After his departure from office, President Reagan lived for ten more years with Alzheimer’s disease, wasting away first in his mental capacities then finally in his physical body. He died at age 93.

Why would the Lord say that his death marks an Isaiah Six event?

In the same year of the good king’s death as recorded in Isaiah chapter six, the prophet had a profound spiritual experience. He saw the throne of God. Little do we fully realize that God’s authority, which proceeds from His throne in heaven, rules over all other governments on the earth. All authority originates from God’s throne, even when temporarily usurped or corrupted by men.

“The Lord has established his throne in the heavens. And His sovereignty (dominion, kingdom) rules over all.”(Psalms 103:19)

Before God’s magnificent throne, seeing pure authority personified in His ultimate goodness, Isaiah felt undone. Conviction of sin hit him. He saw the holiness of God. This revelation produced instant repentance in his heart. An angel ministered cleansing fire to his lips. Then Isaiah heard the Lord speaking within Himself (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in communion), asking, “Whom shall I send and who will go for Us?”

Isaiah responded with these famous words, “Here am I. Send me!”

Now we come to the heart of the matter. Now we move from having a revelation, “This is an Isaiah Six Year,” to interpreting what this means. Here, I apply illuminated reasoning using the Scriptures to interpret my insight from the Holy Spirit. In a very simple way, the following three statements gave me clarity for what the Lord had said.

1. God is a sending God. That was the culmination of Isaiah’s extraordinary vision. Jesus said this plainly to the Jews about His Father. “I know Him, because I am from Him, and He sent Me.”(John 7:29) Later, Jesus said He was sending us all into the world as His witnesses (John 17:18). Being sent distinguishes someone from all others.

2. There is nothing more powerful than a man (or woman)m sent from God. John the Baptist was such a man. “There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.” (John 1:6) Those were his credentials. Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles alike had this unique attribute of divine authorization: that is, they were commissioned by God with a word and a task that was received directly from the Throne.

When the Lord anoints someone and sends them to a people, those people should carefully consider how they respond. If we mistreat or reject such an ambassador, we may cause an affront to the One who sent him.

3. God’s kingdom is drawing near and fresh commissioning is available to us all. The church is moving away from institutionalism back toward its apostolic foundation of real faith and covenant relationships. By the Spirit of Holiness we receive grace and apostleship to bring people to “the obedience of faith.” (Romans 1:5) Church as we know it, beset with both good and bad traditions, may bring people to faith in Jesus, but only fully functioning apostles are able to bring people into obedience as a result of that faith.

Questions such as, “Who sent you?” and, “What is your mission?” and, “Can I receive you?” are relevant. As we seek God’s face and humble ourselves before His awesome power, the Lord is giving out battlefield promotions and establishing new degrees of rank in His holy army. New kinds of leaders, those typified by apostles and prophets, are now reappearing. These are God’s “sent ones” who carry extra authority and revelation.

God’s BIG SECRET for this year is that some ministers, some “Joseph Leaders” in the marketplace, some pastors, teachers, and evangelists, as they seek God, now have the potential of becoming commissioned prophets or apostles. God is delegating more authority on earth to those united with Jesus. Why? Because: God’s program and timetable requires them; because the intensity of the opposition from Satan is increasing; and because Christ’s kingdom is drawing nearer and His throne-room is more accessible.

Recently I ministered at a friend’s church by acting out a prophetic picture. Before the congregation, I had the senior pastor who had founded the church take his place at the head of a line. Behind him, I placed his son who is the executive pastor. Behind him, I lined up an elder, then a covenant group leader, then a church member. Explaining that the Lord was promoting many senior leaders into functioning as apostles, I had each of them reach forward and grip the shoulder of the person in front of them. Then I had everyone in unison take one step forward. That’s how promotion usually comes.

Did you get the picture? Jesus wants everyone in leadership or aspiring to obey God’s call in their ministry to take one step forward. But, don’t leave the people following you behind while you go on ahead.

In some ways, I believe the opportunity the Lord is offering to us this year— this summons to be transformed by God’s presence and receive new authority to transform the nations— is an opportunity long over due, an opening that has been delayed for at least ten years.

Ten years ago, the Lord showed many of His prophets that He wanted apostles to arise. But for ten years, there has been resistance from religious systems. Retaining control of the people and their money has been more important for some religious leaders than was revival. And the devil has fiercely fought this fresh fire, knowing he has no weapons that can completely defeat anyone truly sent by God, especially when that person knows it.

For ten years, many candidates for promotion have been refined by fires of testing, enduring rejection or failure, seeing their own flesh, repenting of their pride, until they know that only by God’s grace and power can anyone succeed in doing God’s work.

This is an “Isaiah Six Year.” It is time to seek the Lord until we see His holiness and are undone. It is time to hear His voice and say “Yes” when He asks if we will go. Then we can end the efforts in our own flesh and start anew in His holy and humble authority.

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The Year King Uzziah Died and The Death of Ronald Reagan © 2004 by Ron Wood, President, Touched by Grace Ministries Inc.