Thursday, July 31, 2008

A Mighty Wind

Cindy McGill: "FACE THE WIND – IT'S A FAITH WALK"
[from Elijah List]


The Winds of Change are Blowing

Does it feel like everything in our lives is being challenged? Sometimes it seems like our spiritual compass is spinning out of control and we can't find our direction. We put one foot down and the ground moves under the other foot. There is no doubt that we have crossed over into uncertain times. The certainty in uncertain times is to keep our anchor in Jesus.

Isaiah 41:10 says, "Do not fear for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."

It's time to walk by faith and not put a lot of trust in our own understanding. The winds of change are blowing and everything in our lives is affected. These winds will show us where our house is built.

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus is teaching about the two houses:

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."


Two houses and two foundations. Often we feel that the winds are adverse times and difficult seasons of our lives, but what if the winds actually represents the Holy Spirit?

God is redefining His Church. God is directing the wind and we find ourselves faced with two choices. We can either turn our faces to the wind or turn our backs on the wind.

If we turn our backs to the wind, we lose sight of things to come and can become rigid and unmovable, possibly even fighting against God. If we face the wind, we find ourselves positioned to have old things blown off of us, capture new vision, and become strengthened for the days to come.

LET THE JUNK BLOW OFF YA!

This shift and change is from God and we must face this wind to get to our next place. He is getting old stuff out of us. Old mindsets, old methods, old comfortable paths and predictable lifestyles are being blown off of us in this wind.

We must avoid trying to reconstruct things God is dismantling. This change is essential. We cannot move forward without it.

God is challenging us to increase our faith. We must ask ourselves this question: Will we choose to be a people of faith or familiarity?

The truth is we cannot keep going like we are going to arrive at the place God wants us to be at. The path is turning. We have to follow Him to arrive at our destiny. We are faced with an opportunity of setting the stage for the greatest visitation of His presence that the world has ever seen.

Things are being removed and things are being added to our lives. The choice is ours. Do we turn our back on the preparation process or do we face the wind and let God reshape our lives, circumstances and mindsets for His purposes?

The very wind He sends, prunes, protects, directs and guides us. There is a higher plan in place. It is God sending this wind.

THERE GOES THE ROOF

These windy times are seasonal, but our faith must increase right now. God is blowing the lid off of our little world. When the roof is gone, there is no obstruction to seeing the Heavenly realm. Things are getting exposed. We are able to see things from God's view.

When the wind dies down, we will have a clearer picture of God, of ourselves, our assignment, and a deeper dependence on God with new levels of trust and faith. Honestly, most of the stuff we thought we just had to have, we discover we just don't need anymore and when it's gone, we won't miss it - stuff in the natural and in the spirit realm.

WHERE IS OUR FAITH?

God is taking over. He is directing the ship. As this storm comes up, will we remember God's words to us or will we be like the disciples who woke Jesus up in the boat, telling Him they were going to die?

Luke 8:22-25, "Now it happened, on a certain day, that He got into a boat with His disciples. And He said to them, 'Let us cross over to the other side of the lake.' And they launched out. But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, 'Master, Master, we are perishing!'

"Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, 'Where is your faith?' And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, 'Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!'"

We are going to make it to the other side. The process may take us in a way we didn't see coming, but the end result is that we will be in a new place with new perspective and INCREASED FAITH!

Face the wind. It is a good thing and a God thing.


Anchored on the Rock,


Cindy McGill
Hope for the Harvest Ministries
Email: dreaminslc@hotmail.com

- - - - - -

ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Making Our Hearts Soft for Seeds


In the Parable of the Sower [Matthew 13], we see a farmer throwing seeds liberally as he moves along. Some seed fall on the pathway; some on rocky ground; some on thorny ground; and some on good ground. We all know how each of type of ground responded to the seed thrown and sown to it.

As I was pondering on this parable – it was preached by my pastor two Sundays ago and was one of the topics in my discipleship class – the Lord gave me the following revelation:

The farmer merely scatters the seed, but he has no control of the type of ground the seed lands on, or how much growth it will achieve – if it grows at all. The farmer sows the seeds freely, leaving the growth process to the forces of nature. Although the growth of the seed is not in the control of the ground it falls on, the type of the ground does determine the growth of the seed and its fruitfulness.

The Lord showed me that though the leadership in my congregation has been “sowing” seeds of the Kingdom to us (through the preaching Sunday after Sunday, through sharing in cell group meetings, through teachings in discipleship classes), the pastors, ministers and cell group leaders can only do so much. No matter how many seeds they throw our way, if our hearts are not open, ready and right before God, no reception of seed can take place and no growth can happen.

God revealed to me that while it is only the Holy Spirit who can produce maturity and growth in us, it is nonetheless our responsibility to prepare and cultivate our hearts to become good ground in which seeds of His Kingdom can be sown. We are accountable for clearing out the thorns in our hearts, removing the rocks that might prevent roots from going down deep, and keeping the birds from taking the seeds.

Kingdom seeds of leadership, submission, loyalty and faithfulness (among others) are being liberally sown in our congregation. I don’t think our pastoral staff and leaders are short in that department. The congregation – if we are at all spiritually attentive and alert – is being bombarded by good seed. And many of us are not taking advantage of this opportunity.

The problem is the state of our hearts! We have thorny hearts and we do not pull the thorns out. We have rocky hearts and we do not remove the stones. We have hardened hearts and we do not plow. We are not tending our garden and we are not keeping the foxes out. And we wonder why we are not getting breakthroughs in our lives or why we are spiritually dry.

Seed is useless if the ground won’t yield. We can stock up on all the seeds we can get, but if our hearts are “pathway” hearts, the birds will come and take the seed away; if “thorny”, the seedlings will get choked up; if “rocky”, the sprouts will be shallow-rooted and easily fall away.

We are to break our fallow ground. We are to cultivate our hearts and soften it to receive Kingdom seed. Yes, it is only God who can cause all things to grow, but it is our job to prepare our hearts – by being humble, yielded and teachable. God can do (and has done) great things through us and for us, but there are some things that He wants us to do for ourselves – He has given us free will after all.

There are plenty of good seeds to spare, scattered all over the proverbial agricultural field. The question is:



Have we made our hearts a good place for God to sow Kingdom seed in?

True Disciples are Students

Rick Joyner:
"True Disciples are Students - Ever Learning, Growing, and Seeking More Knowledge of Their Callings and Purposes"

[from Elijah List]

Leadership comes on different levels. Armies tend to have ranks; Moses broke it down into leaders of tens, hundreds, and thousands. In Exodus 12:38, we are told that Israel left Egypt as a "mixed multitude," but then they were quickly formed into "martial array" (see Exodus 13:18), which means military order. This was the first thing the Lord did to prepare Israel for making it through the wilderness and to possess their Promised Land. We can soon expect this to also happen in the Church.

As we have stated, there is a reason why He uses the title "Lord of hosts" or "Lord of armies" more than ten times as much as any other title. He is a martial God - a military leader. His people will become the most awesome army the world has ever seen. We can expect a military demeanor to permeate the advancing Church throughout its ranks and a new breed of leader to arise.

Great Captains

Every great captain of thousands almost certainly began as an immature captain of tens. Maturity can only come with the passage of time and experience. In time, someone who began as an immature leader of tens will become a mature leader of tens. Then he will likely get promoted to a leader of hundreds. The Captain said: "If we are faithful in the little things, He will entrust us with greater things" (see Matthew 25:21).

However, that does not mean that person will now be a mature leader of hundreds when promoted. He will, in fact, be an immature leader of hundreds. He will not start as immature as at the previous level because he has the experience of the basics of leadership. Even so, there are dynamics of leading hundreds that will stretch our abilities to be leaders, regardless of how well we understand leadership.

This anointing for leadership is not just about how many people we can lead. Leaders of tens in some places are much better and more mature leaders than those who may be leaders of thousands in other situations. The same is true in our military. A small group of Special Forces may be a far more valuable and potent force than a much larger force of standard troops, so one who can lead the smaller Special Forces group may be a much more effective and valuable leader.

There is an anointing or grace for leading numbers, but there are special mandates and commissions from God that may take an even greater type of leader.

In every kind of leadership, we must be able to evaluate the status of the people we are leading so we can lead them further, but we must also be able to evaluate ourselves. Those who become great leaders of tens may think that they now understand leadership, and they may, and may be doing it well on their level.

However, there can be a huge difference between leading ten people and leading a hundred. Then there can be another big difference between leading two hundred and leading five hundred or seven hundred. Leading hundreds can prepare us for leading thousands, but there is a big difference that few can comprehend until they are there.

Understanding Something and Doing It

There can be a big difference between understanding something and being able to do it. As a flight instructor, I learned quickly to watch out for students who had read the training manual. These came for flight training with a cocky edge which was apparent by them constantly trying to show me how much they already knew.

These students were dangerous, maybe not unteachable, but at least much harder to teach. This always made it take longer to teach them how to fly the airplane. Also, something had to scare and humble them before they could fly solo or they would be dangerous.

Being able to explain the mechanics of how to land a plane and actually being able to land one are different things. As a Christian, I have also watched many gain knowledge about the manual, the Bible, and that knowledge would puff them up because they could not distinguish the difference between having intellectual knowledge of a truth and actually living that truth. In fact, some of the people I've met who have the greatest knowledge of "the deep things of God" have been some of the least Christlike people I've met and have little of His life and power.

However, reading the manual before beginning their actual flight training worked differently for some. Some were not puffed up by their knowledge, but rather humbled by it. These were the rare ones who cared less about impressing their flight instructor, but were more concerned about learning to fly the airplane. For these, their knowledge of the manual actually aided and sped up their training. Humility makes everything in life easier.

The Faster We Humble Ourselves the Easier It Will Be For Us

Even so, as a flight instructor I was just as resolved to get the proud ones to be good pilots as I was the humble ones, and I would give the same effort to each. In my observations of how the Lord deals with us, I don't think He gives up on people either just because they are proud. It may be harder and take longer for the proud ones, but He loves them too. However, just as my effort with the humble produced much faster results, the faster we humble ourselves, the easier it will be for us.

Higher levels of flying are identified by higher licenses, such as Commercial or Airline Transport Pilot ratings. In a sense, these are like being captains of tens, hundreds, or thousands because with each higher rating, there is likely a bigger aircraft which will carry more people.

There is a world of difference between flying a Cessna trainer and flying a Boeing 747, even though they both have the same basic controls and flight and navigation instruments. It may take pilots to fly both of them, but there can be a huge difference in them. Likewise, we may all be leaders, but at what level? What do we need to do to be as effective where we are called, and if we are going to be promoted, what do we need to do to go to the next level?

True disciples are students - ever learning, growing, and seeking more knowledge of their callings and purposes and using the experience to grow in wisdom. Let us be a true disciple every day we are in this life. It is all for the purpose of preparing us for the greatest promotion of all - to rule and reign with Him.


Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries
Email: info@morningstarministries.org


- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

God Has Not Given Up On You

Victoria Boyson:
"NO MATTER HOW YOU THINK OR FEEL, GOD HAS NOT GIVEN UP ON YOU!"

An Abundant Life

God has not given up on you. Quite the contrary, actually. He's waiting in breathless anticipation for the dreams He's placed in you to come to pass. He's watching you...waiting, hoping - preparing to give you a bright future with abundant LIFE. You are His precious child and He watches everything you do with the expectant hope that you will realize your need for Him and turn and give yourself to Him.

God has promised us an abundant life. He wants us to live our lives experiencing every promise He's made to us and every blessing He has in store for us. The Lord dreams of us walking in the destiny He has planned for us and living fully in the abundant, extraordinary life He has destined us to have.

As our Father, God has made plans for us - a destiny for us to realize. From before our birth, He's waited anxiously to watch us live our lives having everything we could dream of and more. But the catch to all this goodness is found in Jeremiah 29:11: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.'" They're His plans for us, not our own.

The only way to live an abundant life is by following the plans He's made for you. You are His precious child and He watches everything you do with the eager hope that you will need Him and turn and follow Him.

Surrender

One day, I had had a difficult time with my children. They were somewhat defiant and disrespectful to me. But most of what I didn't like in their behavior was their desire to stay in control. I tried to show them what they were doing wrong and how they were coming across, but it didn't work. So, the harder they pushed to show me they were right, the more determined I was to see a desired change in their attitude.

What did I want from them?

Surrender...full, absolute, complete and humble surrender. Their punishment continued and became more restrictive until at last they humbled themselves and submitted. It was really beautiful to see the change in them and sense the change in their spirit.

I said to God, "Wow! That must be how You feel when we finally let go of our 'need' to be right and in control, and just let You have Your way with us."

So often when we've blown it, we either tend to justify or condemn ourselves. But God doesn't want that anymore than He wants us to rebel. True repentance is basically saying, "God, You're right and I'm wrong." There's no justification needed with Him because He already knows our hearts thoroughly. We don't need to worry about how we appear to Him because He's seen it all and loves us anyway.

God doesn't want to crush or annihilate us. His goal is to correct us. He wants to bring us into right relationship with Him so He can, once again, walk with us. Like He walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden, that's paradise to our Father and it's the only place of abundant life for us.

How terribly silly we must look to God when arguing with Him and stubbornly wanting to be right, or even when we hold on to just a little bit of control. "Can't you see, God, this is how I felt?" or "Do you not see this is how I was treated?"

But our Father has seen it all - He's not blind. Indeed, He sees more correctly how we're feeling than we'd like Him to. He sees straight through us to all that we truly feel inside. Yet, we still try to convince Him that we know what's best for our lives, that our motives are pure and our feelings are justified.

Thank God He loves us enough to stand His ground and continue to require us to act right with righteous motives. He loves us enough to expect the best out of us.

It's God's love for you that keeps Him hoping for your destiny; it's His love that makes Him committed to the development of His heart in you. He doesn't want to dominate you. He's waiting for you to give yourself to Him in complete and beautiful surrender.

God's Plan

God knows you will never fulfill His destiny for your life without following HIS PLAN. So He's determined to keep you close to Him. He won't let go of you. He'll just draw you even closer until you collapse in His embrace. Our Father sees what's around the corner for you - He is excited to bless you with it. He knows it's what you need and He wants to give it to you.

Yet, before the fulfillment of the promise comes our humble submission to His Lordship. We can squawk and squirm all we want, but what He's waiting for is our sweet surrender.

The essence of repentance is our surrender to Him. He wants us to obey!

Learning to obey our Father is one of the most essential lessons we can learn. We must learn to hear His voice and surrender to His leading. The days ahead of us will be perilous and we absolutely must stay rightly aligned with Him.

We can have paradise on this earth; indeed, He's our Garden of Eden if we walk with Him and not off on our own. Going our own way can quite literally lead to misery and disaster.

There's a good reason why the Word says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight" (Proverbs 3:5-6). Ahhh...doesn't that sounds nice? Straight paths?

Take a moment to think about it...with Him we have everything we need. But without Him, we can do nothing. And unfortunately, I have to say we've all produced a lot of "nothing" in the Lord's name. When we believe we know what we're doing, yet feel no need to acknowledge God and seek His will, we will accomplish nothing. Often, we've proceeded in our own propose, believing we are working hard for the Lord, only to end up producing nothing of eternal value.

There's a reason why God wants us to call Him "Father." If He's our Father, that makes us His children. And children do best when they exist in humble surrender to their Father, obeying His leading. The plans He has for our lives and the promises God's made to us can only be found where He leads us. If we move away from Him and try to make His promises come to pass by following our own initiative, we will be wasting our time. We lose sight of our Father and get royally messed up.

"Come Child, I'm Waiting"

The Lord won't force you to follow Him; He simply waits for you to come back to Him. He won't yell at you or try to manipulate you. He holds out His hand to you and simply says, "Come Child, I'm waiting."

Your Father is waiting for you to turn and take hold of His extended hand so He can once again walk with you making straight paths and experiencing an Eden-like relationship.

Let Him carry you and watch with utter amazement where HE takes you. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4).

Pray this with me: Dearest Father, I want all that You have for me. I want to walk with You and experience paradise on earth with You daily. I repent of walking out my own plans for my life and I choose to give You control.

Help me to walk with You Lord. Keep me close to Your heart and increase my capacity to hear Your voice speaking to me. Guide me Father in every aspect of my life. I want to live for You, love You and know You.

In Jesus' name, Amen
.


Victoria Boyson
Speaking Life Ministries
Email: victoria@boyson.org


- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

Level Up: This is it!

Patricia King:
"I Have Had a RECURRING PROPHETIC SENSE - You Are Going to the NEXT LEVEL"
[from the Elijah List website]

I have had a recurring prophetic sense for the last number of months of the Body going to significant new levels of Kingdom revelation, operations, and expansion. I see many standing on the threshold of exciting new adventures of faith.

Directional "Suddenlies" will Occur in Many Lives

I see winds of change blowing and drawing Believers in an upward draft to new levels of encounters in God. I see shifts and changes everywhere. Some will abruptly change their professions and directions in life. Directional "suddenlies" will occur in many lives.

This is a time where many will experience an emptiness of vision and enthusiasm for where they have walked during the past number of years. Many will discover what used to bring fruitful results is now unproductive. What used to bring joy is now dull.

For some, it will look like everything that was secure is collapsing. In some ways, it will seem like the shift is taking place overnight and without previous warning. The reason for this is because the Lord is bringing His people to new levels quickly.

It is important to walk close to God at this time. We cannot lean to our own understanding, but in all our ways we need to acknowledge Him. We need to be willing to make any sacrifice and to follow Him wherever and however He leads. He is raising up a people who do not have the hooks of the world or its treasures in their hearts, but He alone is their treasure.

What I see is a major historical shift for the Church. We are now at the threshold. Some have already crossed over while others are standing and waiting for clear direction. Others will follow later. It is a new day. The winds of change are blowing. The Spirit has truly invited all Believers to the next level.

The next level will include a greater focus on Kingdom perspective and greater death to self. The invisible realm will become more visible. Kingdom ambassadorial authority in the earth through the Church will increase in operation. In addition to accelerated power displays of the works of God, the release of Kingdom authority in and through the Church will also increase.

Angelic encounters and revelatory experiences will increase. Wisdom and counsel will increase. Increase, increase, increase. The Lord says, "It is a time of increase, great increase." It is time to prepare our hearts for this new level. We must have yielded hearts...very yielded...to HIM!

PROPHETIC DIRECTION...

When new levels await us, the following are postures that will help us break through:

1. Follow God Into the Unknown

The interesting dynamic that accompanies "new levels" is the fact that we have never been this way before. It is all new. As a result, we need greater dependency upon God to lead us. We must be willing to leave the comfort of our last season to follow the Lord into uncharted territories.

"Let go and let God." I think of Abraham. He was very comfortable with a flourishing business, established relationships, and settled with the familiar when the Lord called him.

"Now the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country, and from your relatives and from your father's house, to the land which I will show you.'" Genesis 12:1

Abraham did not know what awaited him and he did not even know God well yet. He was willing to follow, though, and as he did, God blessed him.

I love the book of Joshua. Joshua was to lead the people of God into a land of promise. He was instructed to follow behind the Ark of the Covenant (God's presence) as "you have not passed this way before" (Joshua 3:4). It was a new level for them.

2. Sacrifice

Oftentimes, before we go to the next level, we are called to sacrifice the greatest blessing in our previous season. I think of Abraham and how, in Genesis 22, God called him to sacrifice Isaac, the fulfillment of his promise. God already knew that He would supply a substitute, but Abraham's heart was being tested. Was he willing to trust the goodness of God?

After Abraham prepared the sacrifice, God provided a substitute; then Abraham was brought into greater expansion and establishment of promise.

"By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." Genesis 22:16-18

I also think of Christ's disciples. They were invited to experience intimate realms of Kingdom life and become fishers of men if they followed Christ, but they had to sacrifice everything to walk in that level. They had to leave their nets (occupation) in order to follow Him (see Matthew 4:18,19).

"And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life." Matthew 19:29

3. Flexibility

Our ministry highly values "flexibility." This is especially important when we move to a new level in the Lord or step into a new ministry assignment. During this forward movement, almost everything changes. Often, even solidly established leadership and administrative infrastructures and positions that served the previous season need to adapt to the new.

In past revivals, where the Spirit of God has invaded a church, community, or nation, changes were initiated in order to serve what the Spirit was doing. As the revivals moved forward, at times the very structures that once served to facilitate revival were the ones that actually restricted and stifled them in the years to come. It is thought by many revival historians that this inflexibility was one of the contributors to the termination of the revival.

We must always be ready to change and see things through a different perspective. We must even be flexible in our theological interpretations as we go into new levels. Jesus taught us about old and new wineskins. A new wineskin is flexible but the old is rigid (see Mark 2:22).

I think of Israel in the wilderness. A cloud led them by day and fire by night. When the cloud settled, they could, too. They had no idea when the cloud would move again, but when it did, they needed to be flexible. The whole camp had to pack up and move forward.

If we want to follow the cloud today, we must be flexible and ready to dismantle, pack up, change direction, adjust our ways of thinking and receive what I sometimes jokingly refer to as, "The Gumby Anointing."

4. Pruning

Jesus said in John 15:2 that every branch in Him that bears fruit, He prunes so that it can bear more fruit. I don't know very much about pruning, as that is a household chore that my husband performs. I remember the first time he pruned a hedge in our yard. I was devastated! It looked like there was nothing left to it and I was not convinced at the time that it would bounce back. I thought he had gone too far, but to my surprise, in a couple of months, the hedge flourished and grew back with such thick, rich foliage that it hadn't boasted of previously.

If a tree is not pruned, it will grow spindly and untamed. Eventually, it will produce little-to-no fruit. Hmmm...ugly and fruitless.

Recently, there was a surprise element that hit our ministry. The Lord used this time to get my attention and instructed me to labor with Him to prune the ministry in order for us to bear more fruit. In our case, it included the restructuring of departments and the streamlining of a few of our staff positions. It was very difficult and emotional at first.

All our staff people are efficient, faith-filled, self-sacrificing, and totally amazing. It was hard for me to understand at first, until I realized that in order for someone to go to their next level, they might need to leave the previous one; this could even involve changes in geographical locations, job function and provisional source.

The pruning process sets our focus and our dependency back on the Lord. As we walk in this process, we are postured to bear more fruit - always!

5. Conquering Enemies

You have probably heard it said, "New levels, new devils." I believe that in many ways this is true. The journey of Israel into the Promised Land testifies of this. Before they could possess and occupy a new city, they had to war against their enemies. As they obeyed the Lord, they conquered and could step into their new territory.

Oftentimes, we think of our enemies as being demonic entities. They are enemies, for sure, and we need to discover the weapons of warfare that work for the new level of the demonic assaults we face. When we go to the next level, we need great discernment and wisdom. The weapons that worked on the last level might not pertain to the new.

In addition to the demonic, I find that there are other enemies to be conquered. The greatest is that of our carnal nature. As we go into new levels, the ugly flesh can rear its head. When we notice this, we need to embrace the Cross and call our old nature crucified in Christ. We must learn, in Christ, to slay the "beast within." During times of transition into new levels, it is an opportunity to be transformed into His likeness.

6. Remain Childlike

Jesus said in Matthew 18:3-4 that in order to enter the Kingdom we must come as a child. Children are trusting and do not overly complicate things. I like David's perspective in Psalm 131:1-2: "O Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; nor do I involve myself in great matters, or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul; like a weaned child rests against his mother, my soul is like a weaned child within me."

Oftentimes when we face transition, we kick into a "control freak" mode because the changes we experience tend to breed insecurity. You seldom see a child respond in controlled measures. Usually, they try to find comfort and refuge in the arms of their parents. They are dependent and usually follow in trust.

Entrance into the new level will come as we posture ourselves as a child.

7. Keep the Faith

Faith and not self-effort is the currency granted us for Kingdom transactions. There is nothing impossible for the Lord when we believe. Every new level will grant us an opportunity to stretch our faith. Most of the time, when we are entering new levels we need our faith renewed to believe the Lord to:

a. Lead us victoriously into uncharted territory.
b. Provide for us.
c. Grant us power to overcome obstacles, hindrances and enemies.
d. Receive increased knowledge, counsel, wisdom and revelation.


I always find that both faith and love are tested in transitions. Faith works through love and we are usually tested in our love walk. Before David functioned as a king, he had to pass numerous "love and honor" tests with Saul. He believed that the Lord would bring him into destiny if he followed the Lord and passed the tests. His faith grew as well as his love, and this is what gave him the most amazing authority as a king when he entered the new level.

Our trials and tests along the way are what prepare us for the next level. Often we despise them when they come, as they are uncomfortable, but when we pass them we are promoted. Let's embrace the tests with faith.

Prayer is a great vehicle to release your faith. Jesus taught in Mark 11:24, "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you." As we go into new levels, prayer is a posture where your faith will birth the substance of what the Lord is offering you.

I think of Elijah in 1 Kings 18:41-45 where he saw in his prophetic vision a great rain coming. He postured himself in prayer until that which he saw prophetically was birthed. Because he believed, he decreed and prayed the rain into manifestation.

The winds of change are blowing and the next levels of revelation and encounter in the unseen Kingdom await us. It is an exciting season!


Patricia King
Extreme Prophetic Ministries
Email: info@extremeprophetic.com


- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

Approval for God's Sons

Mark Chironna: "There is Coming a Great APPROVAL for the Sons of God in this Season"

[This prophetic word was given by Bishop Mark Chironna on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at The Master's Touch International Church in Longwood, Florida. Reposted from Elijah List]


We've got a rich heritage in the life of the Spirit even just within the last hundred years. There are so many things that we take for granted that earlier generations paid a high price for.

And it's important for us to have reverence and gratitude and awe on an ongoing basis for the manifest presence of God.

God Proves Us in the Midst of Our Trials

There's just something about Him that changes everything. It enables us to endure when endurance seems like it's a never ending race. It enables us, like David's mighty men, to keep fighting until the sword clave to his hand. They had to pry his hand off the sword.

There are seasons we go through, in the Kingdom, where we have to fight the good fight of faith and we are enduring for endurance sake and we wonder if there will ever come an end to the warfare, and yet we hold on to the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and we continue to press through and press on in order that we might obtain the crown of righteousness, as God approves us in the midst of our trials.

There is coming a great approval for the sons of God in this season.

I prophesy to you that: We are coming into a season - we're going through proving, but we're about to come into approving.

Let me say it again: We are going through a proving season, but we are going to come into approving. There is going to be an approval from the Father.

I declare to you that within the next number of weeks we are going to see beginnings of the approving of the Father in many individual lives. We're going to see individual breakthroughs begin to scatter like fire from one end of the Body of Christ to the other.

We're going to begin to hear reports of the goodness of the Lord breaking out in unexpected ways and we're going to see the hand of God in tangible, manifest ways.

The Hand of God is About to Release Angelic Majesty

We are going to hear of prayers that have long been withheld, now, finally being answered.

As it was with Zechariah the aged and Elizabeth the aged, when Gabriel said, "Your prayers been answered," - prayers you even forgot that you prayed - the hand of God is about to release angelic majesty and is about to come in such a way that you are going to see the hand of Almighty God answer your prayers.

You are about to come into a brand new beatific vision - a beautiful vision of Jesus in a new way.

You're going to come to know Him in a way you've never known Him before.

There is a "tenderizing of hearts" going on right now by the power of the Holy Spirit in order to prepare us for this season of approval. God is about to exalt those who have been through lowly places. God is about to open rivers on the bare heights.

God is about to do mighty things that we have not known and He is going to invite us to command the work of His hands for the hand of the Lord is moving again in the earth.

And the hand of God shall be seen in the north and in the south and in the east and in the west and the glory of the Lord shall come like a rushing stream.

And it shall drive out the darkness; and it shall drive out the despair; it shall drive out the gloom; it shall drive out the heaviness and it shall release the rain of His Spirit.

"For there is coming a latter rain in this season - a rain of refreshing, a rain of renewing, a rain of revelation and a rain of restoring and it will water the dry places. It will saturate the parched ground and it will release the seeds that have been lying dormant and there will be incredible, rapid growth," saith the Spirit of God.


Dr. Mark J. Chironna
Mark Chironna Ministries
Email: markchironna@markchironna.com


- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

Friday, July 25, 2008

God by the Numbers

Larry Jackson: "Knowing God by the Numbers"

(Note: Be sure to see the introductions by Steve Shultz and Rick Joyner above about this word and the event associated with it. From Elijah List)


"August 8, 2008"

There are times in life when God requires a person's obedience before He reveals His plan to them. I experienced this on January 1, 2008, at 1:30 AM. After a very exciting New Year's Eve celebration at my church in Charlotte, North Carolina, Father gave me instructions to have another celebration service on "August 8, 2008."

WHY A CELEBRATION ON 8-8-08?

At that time, this was all I heard as our church family exchanged hugs and celebrated the coming of a New Year. This wasn't the right time or venue to share these instructions, so I just hid it in my heart, understanding that there would be a much better time later in the year.

I understood the significance of the number 8 (eight is the number for new beginnings), plus we had just entered 2008 and had just spoke to our church about removing the old and entering into the new.

The Church has always understood the significance of the number eight as it relates to our Lord and the new beginnings of the New Covenant that have been made available (Jesus was raised on the 8th day of the week, for instance).

Little did I know how this simple word would change my life in ways that no one but the Lord could prepare me for.

One week after the New Year service, I was driving to a city leaders meeting and Father spoke the instructions to me again. However, this time I sensed another level of importance and an urgency to get started on preparations now. It was strong enough for me to immediately start telling those people around me that I am to have a celebration on August 8, 2008.

At that time I had no idea what it would look like or why this date was so important to the Lord!

Leonardo Fibonacci

Several weeks later, while studying some financial information, I came across the name Leonardo Fibonacci.

Leonardo Fibonacci was a talented mathematician during the Middle Ages. He compiled and supplemented the mathematical knowledge of classical, Arabic and Indian cultures. He was also known for the significant contributions he made to the mathematical fields of algebra and number theory.

Despite my background in computer electronics, with a heavy emphasis on math-related subjects, I had never heard of him or his work. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued. Yet in no way did I think this would have any bearings on what Father told me to do weeks before. Wrong again!

What I did not realize at the time was that God was leading me down a road to find Him in a way I could have never imagined.

What Fibonacci sparked in my heart was the understanding which God has placed in HIS Creation: a multitude of mathematical equations and sequences. They are found in the food; the plant life; the human structure, including the face; and much, much more. What I realized was the fact that everything we see, hear, touch, taste or even smell has mathematic equations associated with them. This understanding became clearer as I continued to study Fibonacci's work as it relates to finances.

Dr. Michael Brown, a Hebrew Scholar

Weeks into this study, I was led to call Dr. Michael Brown, a well-known Hebrew scholar and leader of the Fire School of Ministry. He has relocated to the Charlotte, North Carolina, area.

I spoke with Dr. Brown about the new and exciting information I'd learned while studying the Fibonacci number sequence and rules. But a thought had come to my heart and mind, which was: "Are there mathematic sequences in the word of God from a Hebrew perspective?"

Dr. Brown explained the difference between Hebrew alphabets and our English alphabets and numbers. Unlike the English alphabet, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet also represents a numerical value. Dr. Brown indicated that many books he'd read had alphabets at the bottom of the page instead of a number - because the letters are numbers.

Later I would find out that there was also a name associated with the numerical values of Hebrew and Greek alphabets, which is known as "Gematria."

Dr. Brown introduced me to another person I had never heard of named Dr. Ivan Panin (Dr. Brown and I were having this conversation while I was driving to a speaking engagement in Richmond, Virginia). He told me how Dr. Panin had discovered mathematic sequences in the Bible in the late 1800s and had given his life to Jesus as a result of his findings. Panin was known as a firm agnostic - so well known, that when he discarded his agnosticism and accepted the Christian faith, the newspapers carried headlines telling of his conversion!

This conversation piqued my excitement all the more, and I couldn't wait to arrive at my hotel room in Richmond, Virginia, and dive deep into the information. But I still didn't see the connection with what Father told me to do on the first day of the New Year. This was just information I could use to further my Biblical understanding that could be used in sermons and other teachings, right? Wrong again! God was leading me, even though I didn't know I was following.

The Search Begins

I will never forget turning on my computer and performing the search for Dr. Ivan Panin and being amazed at what he found - without a computer. He learned Hebrew and Greek in four years, and from there he discovered number sequences. Panin says the laws of probability are exceeded into the billions when we try and rationalize the authorship of the Bible as the work of man. He once said: "If human logic is worth anything at all we are simply driven to the conclusion that if my facts I have presented are true, man could never have done this."

He challenged those who read his findings to attempt to write a simple paragraph that would meet the numerical qualifications of the Bible that are simply found in the genealogies of the Bible. He also challenged the readers of the local newspapers to give a natural explanation or rebuttal to his findings. There were no takers!

In my hotel room, I was like a child in grade school again! And then it suddenly happened - while reading Dr. Panin's work on the number 8.

He revealed that the number associated with the name Jesus was 888.

I could hardly believe it! Father had instructed me to have a celebration on the date that reflects the number of His Name. Even after a long drive and a speaking engagement with double services the next morning, it was 2:30 AM before I could pull myself away from the computer, and it was even later before I could actually fall asleep.

The Master Mathematician - the Number of His Name

Even though we seldom (if ever) think of Him in these terms, the Creator of the Universe is the Master Mathematician. He has spoken in the language of math for centuries, but we haven't been listening simply because no one realized it was His voice.

As the pieces began to fall into place, I could clearly see why God had directed me to hold this celebration on August 8, 2008.

Again, in the Greek language, the numerical value for the name Jesus is 888, and most of the names or titles of our Lord are also multiples of 8. The Lord was instructing us to celebrate "the number of His name." August 8, 2008 represents more than just new beginnings; this number, which will not appear on our calendar again for one thousand years, identifies Him.

After considering this (along with the fact that every letter, word, phrase, sentence, paragraph and book in the Bible are more than just words, they are also numerical values), my only conclusion was that the Bible is not just a literary book - but the Bible is also a math book.

The internet has a wealth of information on the subject of Gematria and I have studied, researched, and found much of it. There were many times that my wife asked me to come to bed and leave the study for another day. But it had all come together, and now at every turn, I was finding more of God - in the study of both the Bible and its many numerical meanings.

Several words and phrases in the Bible have the numerical value of 888, which include: Jesus, Messiah, I am the Lord, I change not, the Lord art exalted forever, I am the Life, the Priest with Urim and Thumim, the salvation of our God, the mercy of the Most High, My Beloved, the heavens declare the glory of God, they shall be comforted, and the third day. Also, the names of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah from the tribe of Judah together equal 888. The book of Revelation, which is the revelation of Jesus, has 888 words in Greek.

Acts 3:16, "And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

The Language of Math

In my research, I learned about others who were experts in Gematria and Biblical numbers, including Bonnie Gaunt.

Bonnie Gaunt has published several books exploring the awesome revelation locked in the Scriptures through Gematria. Jesus is our new beginning and the King of a new and awesome Kingdom, which we have the opportunity to enter into - to live a new existence.

Most of the Church understands that our Lord JESUS is the new beginning for our life and the entire world. The numbers of Gematria help to further prove this fact.

For example, this is the way to write as the Greek would, using English letters and the Greek values:

The name Jesus (Iesous in Greek) adds up to 888:
Iesous =
I (10) + e (8) + s (200) + o (70) + u (400) + s (200) = 888

Most of the names in the New Testament referring to Jesus are multiples of 8. See the list below:

Lord = 800 = 8 x 100
Jesus = 888 = 8 x 111
Christ = 1,480 = 8 x 185
Savior = 1,408 = 8 x 176
Messiah = 656 = 8 X 82

The title Lord (800) + Jesus (888) + Christ (1,480) has a numerical value which equals 3,168.

The numbers should help to further increase our faith in the fact that Jesus has provided for us a new life and we don't have to live in our old existence any more. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

We clearly understand how important the title Lord Jesus Christ is in the Church, and it is equally as important in the universe. Think about this for a moment, if God wanted everyone in the entire universe to understand that He is God and if HE wanted to speak a language all could grasp, what language would He use? The language of mathematics is an elevated language and it can't lie. If one number is changed, then the entire meaning would also change!

Mathematics in Scripture

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before Him endured the Cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Hebrews 12:2

All of the authors I know sign their work. In this respect, the Lord is no different. The universe in which we live bears His signature; that is, the numerical value of 3168.

For example, the city of Bethlehem is located at 31.68 degrees north latitude on the earth. We would have to dig 10 miles below the earth's crust before reaching lava, and we would have to travel 50 miles above the surface of the earth before entering outer space. The sum of these 2 distances is 60 miles. If we convert 60 miles into feet, the numerical value is 316,800 feet (5,280 feet x 60 = 316,800).

Notice the continual occurrence of 3168!

Acts 17:28 says, "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'"

The Bible states that we live and move and have our being in Jesus and the numbers prove it.

If a box is placed around the earth so that the four sides touch each side of the earth, the perimeter around that box would equal 31,680 miles.

Placing the moon directly on top of earth at the North Pole and drawing a circle around the earth and the moon, the perimeter of the circle would equal 31,680 miles.

3,168 = Mediator between God and men, the Gospel of the Kingdom of God. "He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied: by His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:11).

"To whom then will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth." Isaiah 40:25-26

How Do We Celebrate the Number of His Name?

Finding God in the numbers sealed even more the fact that He wanted the celebration on August 8, 2008. But there was one little detail that He hadn't given me. What type of celebration, and how do you celebrate the number of His name?

Early one morning I was awakened and knew it was the Father calling me. Finally, the instructions were given and I knew what to do and how to do it.

We are to have a 12-hour celebration and walk the people through the tabernacle of Moses. Allow each section of the tabernacle to speak of the Lord. The first number that can be cubed is the number 8 (2 x 2 x 2 = 8).

The tabernacle is built in cubit squares. I was instructed to stay 4 hours in each section starting at 8 AM and ending at 8 PM that night.

THE NUMBER "12" IS ALSO SIGNIFICANT

God has used the number 12 throughout the Bible, because the number "12" also represents Him.

You may recall there were 12 tribes of Israel. The 12 pillars, the 12 stones, 12 chargers, bowls of silver and spoons of gold, 12 spies, 12 disciples, 12 foundations, and 12 gates just to name a few.

Aaron the High Priest wore a breastplate with each of the tribes represented by a precious jewel. Also, remember that each name has a numerical value.

The sum of the last three tribes Benjamin, Manasseh and Ephraim equals 888.

The place where the Cross is found is on the last of the four rows of jewels on the breastplate, where Jacob crossed his hands while blessing Ephraim and Manasseh. Also, Benjamin was Joseph's only brother from his mother to whom he gave a double portion. This is the generation who is living in the blessing of the Cross and will walk in the double portion anointing of our Lord.

Below are the twelve tribes of Israel on the breastplate of Aaron. Each tribe has a numerical value from the Hebrew alphabet. For there to be numerical values that relate to Jesus, would mean that Father God knew these names before they were ever born.

Jeremiah 1:5 says, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."

JUDAH (30) SIMEON (466) REUBEN (259)
GAD (7) NAPTHALI (570) DAN (54)
ZEBULUN (95) ISSACHAR (830) ASHER (501)

MANASSEH (331)
EPHRAIM (395)
BENJAMIN (162) = These last three equal "888"

Each of the rows in the breastplate are important, but the last row is the one that we will emphasize here. Remember, Benjamin was named Benoni by his mother, before Jacob changed it, which means "Son of Sorrow." The numerical value of the name Benoni is 119, which would have brought the last row value total to 845 (not shown here).

HOWEVER, when Jacob changed his name to "Benjamin" and the numerical value increased to 162 (as illustrated above), the total value of the last row increased to 888, which equals the value of Jesus' name.

Father never wanted His name to be the "son of my sorrows," but rather "Son of My right hand."

While speaking at a MorningStar men's conference, I shared this information with Rick Joyner, Bishop Wellington Boone, and Bob and Bonnie Jones.

Bonnie shared with me that she just had a dream several nights before about the date August 8, 2008. In the dream, God told her that she would find the Joseph Company on that date. He also told her that it would take her 40 days to find them, which started on June 29, 2008. I knew she was looking for the people who would attend this celebration, and the 40 days leading up to August 8, 2008 was a time of preparation and cleansing.

Saved and Safe in His Name

(Note by Steve Shultz: Remember that only AFTER an event passes do we often see the full meaning. So we don't know if this event referred to below - this famine - refers to an actual famine, a spiritual famine, or both. Of course, many will not be able to attend, but you might want to seek the Lord as to how you can align yourself with God's purposes for ANY given date on the calendar!)

Larry Jackson Continues:

I believe Father told me a famine is coming to our land and this celebration will prepare His people for it. It will place them in a position where they will be protected; that is, in His NAME!

We are about to face a season of uncertainty and the Church must know Jesus and the power of His name. We must take the power of Jesus into the streets and marketplace. We are about to enter into one of the most important seasons of harvest man has ever seen.

After the resurrection, Jesus instructs the disciples - who had returned to fishing and had not caught anything all night - to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. When the disciples did what He told them to do, the nets filled immediately.

The Bible tells us that there were 153 fish in the nets. Have you ever asked why 153 fish? 153 = the number of these:

"Passover"
"He is faithful"
"Sons of God"
"He shall cause to inherit" and
"I am the Lord thy God"

Could it be our Lord was telling us that the Sons of God would be revealed in the last days of the great harvest? We are in one of the most important seasons the Church has ever experienced, and most of the time our experiences are reserved only for church services. I believe it is time for the Kingdom to be manifest in the streets and the marketplace where more of the harvest can be caught - not only within the walls of the church buildings.

THE WORLD OLYMPICS BEGIN AUGUST 8, 2008 BUT...

Beginning August 8, the world will be focused on the Olympics, its glory and excitement, while the people of God must also be focused on the King of Glory and the power of His NAME! This is a prophetic date that will come and go with this calendar year, but the number 888 is forever, because Jesus is forever.

Again, Acts 3:16 says, "And His name through faith in His name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

I invite you to come and join the celebration where the complete focus will be on Jesus. I've also been instructed not to sell anything at this celebration. There can be nothing that takes away from who He is and why we came together on the number date of His name - August 8, 2008.

For more information about the celebration on August 8, 2008, visit our website at www.BethelOIC.com. There is no fee to register. The celebration will take place at MorningStar Ministries in Fort Mill, South Carolina. To register, email us at frontliners1999@aol.com or click here.

If you cannot join us, have your own celebration on this day and enter into the number of His Name!


Bishop Larry Jackson, Senior Pastor
Bethel Outreach International Church (BOIC)
Email: info@betheloic.org

- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

Expect the Unexpected

Carol Kelley:
God says, "PREPARE FOR THE UNEXPECTED. I AM THE GOD OF THE UNEXPECTED!"
[from Elijah List]


The Lord has been speaking to me for some time about "generations" and "glory." Earlier this spring, He said to me: "Prepare. Plan. Pray. Prepare for the unexpected. I am the God of the unexpected. Embrace Me. Embrace My ways. Look to Me. I will direct you. I am giving you new strength. Rise up!" "Arise, shine, your light has come! The glory of the Lord has arisen on you. His glory will be seen on you" (Isaiah 60:1). "Open the gates, that the King of glory may come in" (Psalm 24:7, 9). "All the generations will see My glory. The glory of the Lord will be revealed (Isaiah 40:5). The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). All the ends of the earth will see the glory of our God (Psalm 97:6). "Expect it, claim it, walk in it!"

He Spoke "Generation(s)!"

Last year, God spoke the words "generation" and "generations" to me over and over - more than 400 times - until I gave up counting. I kept asking Him what this meant. He didn't tell me right away, but just kept speaking the same words without explaining the mystery to me. After several months of this, the Lord gave me a prophetic word about generations:

"Call forth the generation to the purposes I have for them: the younger generation to follow Me, set an example (I Timothy 4:12), learn, and lead when it's time; the older generations to serve Me, teach by example, love and support, and lead or step back when it's time.

"Together, all the generations will experience a visitation of My Spirit and will be used to further the Kingdom of God on the earth.

"Together, all the generations will love and serve Me, love each other, and love, serve and reach the world.

"Together, all the generations will worship Me. Every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11; Isaiah 45:23).

"Is anything too hard for Me?" (Jeremiah 32:27) says the Lord. "I have spoken, I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it (Isaiah 46:11). The vision hastens to its time; it will surely come, it will not delay" (Habakkuk 2:3).

"Hear this, and listen: has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers' days? Tell your sons about it, let your sons tell their sons, and their sons tell the next generation. There has never been anything like it, nor will there be again after it, to the years of many generations. For I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old will dream dreams; your young will see visions; even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days" (Joel 1:2-3; 2:2, 28-29).

Feeling Broken, Alone or Forsaken?

The way God moves among and through generations remains a mystery. But since the beginning of time, He has been working throughout history to draw people to Himself. We see in the genealogies of Jesus (Matthew 1:1-17; Luke 3:23-38) that His human family line was filled with imperfect, broken people that God chose to work through.

Do you ever feel alone or forsaken? Ruth did. After her husband died, she was given a choice to stay in her own land with her relatives and everything that was familiar to her, or journey to a new land with her mother-in-law. So she ventured out in a new walk of faith, leaving behind her country, relatives and pagan religious system to follow the God of Israel.

The Lord gave her a new family and a new husband, Boaz. Ruth became the great-grandmother of King David (Ruth 4:13-17), and part of the family line of Christ (Matthew 1:5-6). Her obedience blessed her descendants and continues to bless us today through Jesus. As with Ruth, the decisions you make today have tremendous power to change history, influence the generations that will follow you and bear fruit that makes an impact for eternity.

God still chooses to work through imperfect, broken people today. He sees us through His eyes and not as we see ourselves. Do you struggle to overcome your fears or to know with certainty what the Lord is calling you to do? Gideon did (Judges 6). His life was ruled by fear and uncertainty. Yet God called him a valiant warrior!

Gideon was honest with the Lord, laying his fears and questions before Him, asking for signs to confirm his direction. God answered Gideon's prayers, helping him to step out boldly and confidently (Judges 7). The Lord taught Gideon to define himself by what He thought about him, and not by the expectations of others. He wants to do the same for us.

Have you suffered abuse at the hands of others? Joseph did. But God was faithful to bring him to a place of healing. It didn't happen overnight; the Lord took Joseph through a process. I see part of that healing process at work in Genesis 41:50-52, when Joseph names his two sons. The first son is named Manasseh, meaning "making to forget." Joseph said, "God has made me forget all my trouble in my father's household." The second son is Ephraim, or "fruitfulness." Of his youngest son Joseph said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

Later on in Genesis 48, Joseph's father Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh. Jacob gives the firstborn blessing to the younger son. Ephraim (fruitfulness) will take precedence over and become greater than the process of working through the abuse (Manasseh). We see in Genesis 50 the healing of a whole extended family system with Joseph and his brothers fully reconciled after their father Jacob's death.

The stronghold of a deceptive spirit, passed down over generations from Abraham to Isaac to Jacob to Joseph's brothers, was finally broken by Joseph's obedience and persistence. God also used him to help ensure the survival of two nations – Israel and Egypt.

Pioneers - Be the First in Your Lineage to Follow the Lord's Ways

All of us have generations in our family line that preceded us. Some were righteous and walked with God, while others did not. Their actions can influence us, yet we are individually accountable before God. We need NOT feel powerless to change.

God can help us sort through what has gone on before us in previous generations and know what to hold on to, what strongholds to break, and what new things to establish. Sometimes He calls us to make a generational "shift" so our obedience can help establish a pattern of blessing for future generations.

Some of us are pioneers in faith like Abraham and Ruth, the first in our lineage to follow the Lord's ways and establish new patterns for the future. If so, take heart - there is great blessing and reward in being a spiritual pioneer.

Genesis 15:1, "Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great." God has used the first-generation faith of Abraham and Ruth to bless the entire world.

Genesis 12:1-3, "Go forth from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's house, to the land I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you, and make your name great, and so you shall be a blessing...and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Others like Timothy have an incredible spiritual inheritance spanning generations. II Timothy 1:5, "I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is within you as well."

Rejoice! He will enable you to build on this foundation (I Corinthians 3:10-11) of faith, experiencing even greater spiritual depth, intimacy, breakthrough and victory than your predecessors did. He may also call you to venture out and do something entirely "new" in His Kingdom.

Reclaim Parts of Our Spiritual Inheritance

Whether you are a first-generation believer or can trace your spiritual roots back for generations, God wants to work through you to express His love to the world. He wants us to reclaim His Kingdom on the earth, securing His blessing in our own generation, and positively influencing those who follow us. Like He did for Gideon, He wants to teach us that our acceptance is rooted in Jesus - how He sees us and what He has done for us; not in any false expectations or wrong view of ourselves.

Ephesians 2:8-9, "By grace you have been saved through faith; it is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God; not as a result of works or human effort, that no one should boast."

The choices we make now can affect not only ourselves and our own survival, but like Joseph, also the very existence and survival of future generations.

My parents, like many in their generation, were profoundly impacted by the events of World War II. My father entered the U.S. Army, was seriously wounded in Europe and taken prisoner. He eventually ended up in a German POW hospital, nearly dying of starvation by the time he was liberated by Allied forces. He made a choice to survive, and his twenty direct descendants, including me, are alive today because of this decision.

God can help us reclaim parts of our spiritual inheritance and destiny which our parents, grandparents or other relatives did not fulfill. What one generation sowed, another may reap (Galatians 6:7-9; I Corinthians 3:6-8). What one generation did not or could not complete, another can through God's grace and power.

So rise, take up your place in your generation, and change the world for Christ! All the generations working together can help His Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:10).

All the generations will see His glory!


- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

A Prayer for a Warrior


[from the 18th Psalm; for Warrior and Follower of Christ]

The Lord is your strength. The Lord is your rock, your fortress and your deliverer. God is your rock, in whom you can take refuge. He is your shield and the horn of your salvation, your stronghold. Call on the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and He will save you from your enemies. The cords of death may entangle you; the torrents of destruction may overwhelm you. The cords of the grave may coil around you; the snares of death may confront you. In your distress, call to the Lord; cry to God for help. From His temple He will hear your voice; your cry comes before Him, into His ears.

He will reach down from on high and will take hold of you; He will draw you out of deep waters. He will rescue you from your powerful enemy, from your foes, who are too strong for you. They may confront you in the day of your disaster, but the Lord will be your support.

He will bring you out into a spacious place; He will rescue you because He delights in you. The Lord will deal with you according to your righteousness; according to the cleanness of your hands He will reward you. So keep the ways of the Lord; do not commit evil by turning from your God. All His laws are before you; do not turn away from His decrees. Be blameless before Him and keep yourself from sin. The Lord will reward you according to your righteousness, according to the cleanness of your hands in His sight.

To the faithful He shows Himself faithful, to the blameless He shows Himself blameless, to the pure He shows Himself pure, but to the crooked He shows Himself shrewd. He saves the humble but brings low those whose eyes are haughty. The Lord will keep your lamp burning; God will turn your darkness into light.

With His help you can advance against a troop; with God you can scale a wall. God’s ways are perfect; the word of the Lord is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in Him. For who is God besides the Lord? And who is the Rock except God? It is God who will arm you with strength and make your way perfect. He will make your feet like the feet of a deer; He will enable you to stand on the heights. He will train your hands for battle; your arms can bend a bow of bronze. He will give you His shield of victory, and His right hand will sustain you; He will stoop down to make you great.

He will broaden the path beneath you, so that your ankles will not turn. You will pursue your enemies and you will overtake them; you will not turn back till they are destroyed. You will crush them and they will not rise; they will fall beneath your feet. God will arm you with strength for battle; He will make your adversaries bow at your feet. He will make your enemies turn their backs in flight; you will destroy your foes. They will cry for help, but no one will save them— they will call to the Lord, but He will not answer.

You will beat your enemies as fine as dust borne on the wind; you will pour them out like mud in the streets. He will deliver you from the attacks of the people; God will make you the head of nations; people you do not know will be subject to you. As soon as they hear you, they will obey you; foreigners will cringe before you. They will all lose heart; they will come trembling from their strongholds.

The Lord lives! Give praise to your Rock! Exalt God, your Savior! He is the God who will avenge you, who will subdue nations under you, who will save you from your enemies. He will exalt you above your foes; He will rescue you from violent men. So, praise the Lord among the nations; sing praises to His name. He will give you great victories; He will show unfailing kindness to His anointed.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Acceleration / Speed of Light

Claire Lampan: GOD IS ACCELERATING YOUR DESTINY ON AN OPEN ROAD
[from Elijah List]

"I will take you where angels fear to tread; where grown men have stumbled and gone astray. As you stay close to Me, I will guide and direct your path; stay close to Me. Listen for My voice at every junction before you venture out on the 'open road.' The sign posts will be there - you must seek and you shall find; do not rush and miss them, but do not stand and dwell beneath them.

"You are about to enter the open road. Be alert; be ready to accelerate as the road allows; be ready to negotiate each bend with care. Is anything too difficult for Me? I will make the crooked path straight when I release My favor and My increase. 'Kairos' will be a living experience for you. What was crooked will become straight.

"I am accelerating your destiny. Time is the essence and the essence is time. Do not fear the unknown; this is a road of opportunity and it is 'open' for you. Just listen at the junction, and then move out. You must listen at the junction for directions.

"Do not fear the danger of colliding with other traffic on the open road. No one has traveled this open road before, only I. The danger is not in collision, but in moving off course. I have set your course. I will then direct you into the paths of righteousness. The path awaits you - take courage, My child, step out.

"I will wipe every tear, hear every plea, and every longing will be realized as you align your heart's desires with Mine.

"Glory is Mine. Honor and glory are Mine. Release My honor and My glory to My children. You will see healing in your own family as you minister healing to My Body - this remedy is not a repeat prescription, but a cure.

"Trust Me once more, My child. I want to bless you beyond measure, beyond limits, beyond expectations, and beyond."

Claire Lampan
Revival Highway


Conrad Lampan: "ACCELERATION AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT"
CHANGES AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT

When I was in Bible College, we received a visit from James Irwin, one of the astronauts who made it to the moon. He came with another guest who was in charge of NASA computing systems for a specific trip to the moon. They talked about many things relating to the journey - the preparation, the return back to earth, and they shared some curious facts that had us all mesmerized. But the one thing they shared, which was absolutely astounding, was a hypothetic trip in which one could reach the speed of light, as well as what changes would happen as we approach such speed.

James and his partner had us imagine we were on a spacecraft that could eventually reach the speed of light and they explained five things that would happen as we approached the speed of light. Now, bear in mind that as we speak of light and approaching the speed of light, we are also talking about God and approaching the "speed" of God because - God is Light!

BE LIGHT

One thing which will happen as we approach the speed of light is that we will become more and more radiant ourselves. As we reach the speed of light, we will become so much a part of it that we too will be light!

According to the Bible, we partake of His nature and take from His fullness. All throughout the Scriptures we are told to be like Him, become like Him and act and move like Him. And this is not by way of imitating light - you cannot imitate light - but by way of "becoming light" and this is by "abiding in Him."

THE "SPACECRAFT"

We cannot become God, so how can we even consider the possibility of being like Him? That's where the Vessel - God, which is provided for the journey comes in. We have been translated into the Kingdom of His beloved Son. We have been put in Him, and in Him we move and are and have our being! As we "be" in Him, He is the Vessel that can reach the speed of "God" because He is God Himself!

We can be light! We should be light! It is time that we become light and shine!

WEIGHT OF GLORY

When you are accelerating to speeds close to the speed of light, you become heavier as you go. Until the speed of light is reached, you weigh as much as the whole universe. So much has been said, written and sung about the "Weight of Glory." We have not yet realized that such weight of the Glory of God is seen - not as a detached brilliance somewhere out in the void - but rather the weight of Glory increases in us as we speed up to God's speed! The more we are accelerated into Jesus, to God's speed, the more of God's Glory is shown through us.

GLORY AND PRESENCE

The Glory is not the same as the Presence. We need the presence of God if we are to see His glory as well. God is not glory, but He is full of Glory, ergo, we need to be in His presence where the fullness of Glory abides. This brings me to the other aspect of acceleration to the speed of light.

If we could reach the full speed of light, our mass would occupy the whole universe. We cannot, as created entities attain to that; we cannot by ourselves. But as I said, we are in Jesus and He is God and He is omnipresent!

Have you ever thought that in a very spiritual/cosmic sense that we move about the universe with our "prayers and prophetic actions"? Prayer and the prophetic are not static. You might be sitting in one place, but what you are doing in the Spirit is affecting all levels of the realms. This is only possible because of us being in Jesus.

TIME STOPS AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT

If we travel close to the speed of light, time "slows" down from a point of view, and if you reach the speed of light, time stops. This speaks of eternity! As we approach the "speed" of God, we are actually entering the speed of eternity, which in a very present sense means that time is of no effect then, and it becomes a wholesome, ever present Kairos!

From some point of view, it might feel as if we are slowing down as we approach eternity, but this is only our perception from within. Anybody looking at you as your time slows down from within, would actually perceive the opposite: they will see you accelerating to impossible speeds.

Have you ever felt that some person you know is experiencing more blessings or a "faster" move of God in their ministry? We experience such acceleration when we are in Jesus, and the more we immerse ourselves in Him, the closer we are to reaching higher speeds in our life and ministry.

TIME TO ABIDE IN ETERNITY

It does not take a long time to realize that the Bible is packed with reference to the above and I leave it to you to think of all the promises we have in God's Word aiming to accelerate our destiny to the speed of God.

It is time we realize that we have been put into eternity - we are not going into eternal life one day. We are already in eternal life and the principles of eternity apply to us here and now! Eternity is not about going to Heaven, but about opening Heaven on earth. We have been given the possibility of accelerating to Heaven's speeds!

J. Conrad Lampan
Revival Highway
Email: connect@revivalhighway.org


- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250

God's Viewpoint - A Coalition of Time and Eternity

Kim Clement: "God's Viewpoint - A Coalition of Time and Eternity"
[from Elijah List]

When God speaks, He removes all doubt that our circumstances will control our freedom, however it does require a certain condition: our compliance to make it possible for Him to do it.

Lately, I've been thinking about our "point of view," and the fact that we are each a point of view. Every single person is a point of view. I am a point of view, you are a point of view. And from that angle, we see things based on our belief system, our education, our spiritual perception, our history - good or bad - and very importantly, our present circumstances. This point of view may be a healthy one, or a view based solely on our small thinking. God comes along and changes our viewpoint with a divine viewpoint.

Divine Perspective

When God speaks to us, it is an exegesis of existence from a divine perspective, which is a complete explanation and interpretation of a particular perspective. Why does God have a specific viewpoint and, is my own point of view at odds with His? This could happen. Another aspect of God speaking to us is the fact that if we believe it (while living in time and space, bearing all the restrictions that come along with time and space, like weariness, sickness, depression, opinions, etc.), then HE is able to make it happen.

You may ask the question, "Why would God be restricted in any way, considering that He is God?" Well, the answer is easy. God lives and exists in eternity, or timelessness, and has made human beings rulers in time and space. They manage it, redeem the time, and occupy the space with very little help from eternity. The only thing they have to assist them to bring some eternal power and help into their restricted world is...faith.

Faith can move a mountain. Jesus spoke to a tree that was unfruitful and the next day it was dead. He spoke to winds and storms commanding them to be still. What Christ was doing was using the eternal power that existed in His BLOOD to make adjustments in His restrictions (time and space). We all have the same restrictions that He had. Based on the fact that if we accept Him and the Holy Spirit, we would have the same power and no possible restrictions could hold us back from our destiny.

Remember the story of Simon Peter in Matthew 16, as he stood with a bunch of disciples ready to answer the question Jesus had posed to them? "Who do men say that I am?" They all answered Him in parrot-like fashion and basically gave Him the opinions of the people saying, "You're a re-incarnated prophet - Jeremiah, Elijah, John the Baptist." Then Jesus, obviously wanting to see what their viewpoint was, posed the following question, "Who do YOU say that I am?"

Now, He wasn't asking them for an opinion, or a carnal point of view, but was asking for something eternal. No one answered until Simon Peter spoke out, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God." This did something for Jesus and He told Simon Peter, "Flesh and blood (time and space/opinion) has not revealed this to you but My Father in Heaven (eternal) has." Jesus continued to say, "...Simon Peter, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven and whatever you loose (release) on earth will be loosed in Heaven."

Suddenly, there was an understanding in my mind that a "revelation from God," mingled in our mind and spoken out, would bring a harmony between Heaven (eternity/no restrictions) and earth (space/time/restrictions). Simon Peter, because of a "God" viewpoint, could command eternity into any earthly/worldly situation by releasing or stopping/loosing and binding.

Temporal vs. Eternal

Here is the dilemma: temporal and eternal are at odds. God has to find someone in time and space who has moved away from a limited, restricted, spacey viewpoint, and someone who has had a revelation from an eternal viewpoint, and move them to SPEAK it into that atmosphere - an atmosphere of negative energy derived from negative, restricted opinions.

My Grandmother used to say; "Opinion is like a backside - everyone has one and it stinks most of the time." However, let me continue encouraging you in this. Doesn't the Bible teach us in Ecclesiastes 3, that, "God has placed eternity in the heart of man"? The word "heart" there is translated, or correctly interpreted, as DNA.

Therefore, we have absolutely no reason not to overcome the restrictions that exist in our limited time and space. Eternity being in your DNA means that there is something driving you to connect with another eternal being or thing and if you can't find it, then you will find a temporary thing and place eternity into it/them.

Sound weird? Think about this then. Moses is taking the Israelites out of Egypt and away from their oppressors, surrounded by unbelief, fear, anger, and outrage in millions of Israelites that have been oppressed for 400 years. So their thinking is controlled by 400 years of history, slavery, oppression and pain.

Suddenly someone comes along and shows them a few miracles and finally gets them on their journey to freedom. The odds are against Moses performing any great miracle with their faith and expectation level. However, Moses has received a WORD from God, which means that he has an eternal command in his being.

God's word is not temporal, but eternal, and never dies. Moses tried to connect with something eternal in the people and finds nothing but restricted points of view. At one stage, the millions of Israelites (on their journey) run out of water and begin to angrily demand Moses to deal with this and speak to God. God tells Moses that there is water in a big rock close to him. This is ridiculous. Water does not exist in a rock. NO, it doesn't within the restrictions of time and space, but in terms of eternal perspective and God's viewpoint it does!

So what Moses has to do is take the word from God, which has connected with the eternity in his DNA (making it possible in his thinking), and place it into the rock by commanding it. There is no water in the rock. Moses has to place it there with his faith, his divine eternal viewpoint, and then command it with his now supernatural stick.

God tells Moses to strike the rock; as Moses does this, water gushes from the rock, and according to historians, a necessary 155,000 gallons of water gushed out of the rock to make approximately 3.5 million people happy in terms of drinking, cooking, bathing, washing clothes, etc.

Have Dominion

God needs someone in time and space to have a divine viewpoint in order for Him to perform His will on earth. That's the way He made things, and when He created Adam in the Genesis, He never told Adam that He (GOD) would be running the earth, but rather gave that power and authority to Adam by saying, "Multiply, have dominion, fill the earth and subdue it."

Basically, God was telling Adam, "You're in charge of the earth, time and space, and it's up to you to subdue it when problems arise." Have dominion. Dominion means, "to have sovereignty and control." Man's jurisdiction was over the EARTH, not any other place.

In Genesis 11, the Bible says that the various people on the earth decided that it was not the place where they wanted dominion, and so they decided to build a temple so high that the top reached into Heaven. Today this may seem ludicrous, but it's still happening in many different ways. What they were doing back then was trying to have dominion in the Heavens, because their attempts to have dominion over the earth had failed horribly because of Adam's fall.

Sin controlled their thinking and the point of view was limited and restricted to the selfish desires of the heart. They didn't care to use the "eternity" that God had placed within their blood, while under the restrictions of time and space, but sought another place to live rather.

Throughout my Christian life and ministry, I have seen the same problem, especially in the Church. People want to be "taken" to Heaven quickly and have the "Armageddon" attitude, which is, "I'm tired of life on earth, Arm-a-geddon out of here!"

They conjure up all kinds of doctrines to prove that God doesn't want us on this miserable earth, but wants to wipe it out, ultimately placing Christianity as a religion that is at odds with environmentalists who are desperate to save this precious earth that God gave to us. After all, wasn't His first command to Adam, "Fill the earth, have dominion and subdue it"?

Eternity in Our DNA

We have eternity in our DNA, which means that we can prove limitations wrong and WITHIN our circumstances make adjustments so that our restrictions actually become our opportunities and our greatest weapons. If you study God and how He worked historically with great men in the Bible and outside the Bible, you will see that most of these people were in severe circumstances with grave restrictions, and the general opinion was grossly against them.

The "eternal viewpoint" makes it possible for us to go through a transformation of the mind, thereby changing our speech. Once you use the power of the tongue to command your circumstances, your circumstances are converted from temporary distraction to eternal purposes. Moses stood before God at the burning bush and asked God how in the world he was supposed to deliver the people of Israel from Egypt.

Aside from the obvious problems, here are a few of the things that were against him. God speaks to Moses, a fugitive of Egypt and one guilty of murdering while he was a prince in Egypt, and says to him, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob."

In the midst of this breaking of the silence of hundreds of years, this completely unexpected manifestation of continuity, Moshe (Moses), the Egyptian prince who could hardly have been less prepared for such a moment, acts with a terror the patriarchs seldom exhibited, "Moses concealed his face, for he was afraid to gaze upon God" (Exodus 3).

In the same chapter, God speaks again and says, "I have seen, yes, seen the affliction of My people that is in Egypt, their cry have I heard in the face of their slave-drivers; Indeed I have known their sufferings! So I have come down (into time and space) to RESCUE it from the hand of Egypt, to bring it up from that land, to a land, goodly and spacious, to a land flowing with milk and honey...SO NOW GO, FOR I SEND YOU TO PHARAOH; BRING MY PEOPLE, THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, OUT OF EGYPT."

HOLD ON - I thought God said that HE had COME DOWN to rescue them? So why is He asking Moses to do it? Because, God has restricted Himself by giving mankind management of the earth and therefore, will always give a man the job of doing what He in fact came to do. This is exciting because it makes me realize that God transfers that power (that He has to accomplish something) into us and commands us to GO and deal with it.

God Has to Deal with Our Point of View

The only real problem that God has to deal with is our point of view. How do we see it? Can we see it the way He does? His viewpoint is eternal - ours is temporal and restricted by our limited sight. Now God has to convince us that it can be done.

Moses stands before God with a staff in his hand. This is his security and the one thing that he is acquainted with. The staff has led sheep and warred off the various plunderers of the sheep. God asks Moses to throw down his staff, and suddenly, what Moses has "seen" as a mere piece of wood to be used for one specific purpose, is now a serpent. God was trying to show Moses that nothing temporal is what it seems. On the surface it looks safe and predictable, but in actual fact, with eternal viewpoint and command, it could produce many interesting things.

Think about when Jesus was walking the earth. He is faced with a problem; a man is blind and needs to see. Jesus spits into the earth's soil and mixes it into clay, shoves it into the man's eyes, and suddenly, the blind man can see. Earth - trodden on by the feet of men and the paws of animals - suddenly becomes the instrument to open blind eyes.

Whey didn't Jesus do what He normally did? He would've placed His hands on someone, or spoken a word, but instead He used the EARTH and showed everyone that what was a seemingly predictable waste, was in fact a force to be used to heal someone. How? He saw more in the earth than something to be trodden upon or dug up, and allowed eternity to be placed into it when He spat into it.

DNA transferred into the earth! You have that power to transfer the eternity that is in your DNA into another human being. That is the essence of the prophetic. You "see" something greater in a human being, even greater than what they see, and you speak it into their lives. What a joy to see them becoming the eternal beings they were designed to become.

Remember, you have eternity in your blood, your DNA, and you have the ability to change everything. You have a Word from God, which is all that you need.

Kim Clement
Prophetic Image Expressions
Email: hope@kimclement.com


- - - - -


ElijahList Publications
310 2nd Ave SE,
Albany, OR 97321
www.elijahlist.com
email: info@elijahlist.net
Phone 1-541-926-3250