Lisa Great

All over the world people attend church. One common thing I have noticed in churches all over the world is that people do not have a problem coming in late, missing worship, getting up to go to the bathroom, leaving early, talking to neighbors, or playing games on their phones.

One of the gifts I have is observation and those observations reveal patterns. It is not an American pattern, it is an around the world pattern I have observed. It happens every Sunday and I have always wondered how the protocol for a movie is a higher standard for people than the protocol in church?

I sit through movies in the theatre with people, all over the world and the protocol is the same. People come in, for the most part before the actually movie starts. There is a rare occasion someone enters while the movie is playing. Phones are off, no one moves, no one talks and we are all focused on the movie, little to no distractions.

Things that make me wonder what is more attention grabbing in a movie than is happening in church? Or is it revealing our values more than what is being portrayed in front of us? If we value being entertained, we will focus and not be distracted, but if we value God, worship, and HIs word, we are listening intently, absorbing continually and evaluating ourselves continuallly.

Just something to think about.

I was in worship yesterday and as we were singing the Lord spoke to me and said, “I alone am on the throne!” I then saw in the spirit a throne and God alone was on the throne. No one else was on the throne with Him. He sat alone on the throne. My eyes were fixated on Him on the throne, all alone. No competition, no comparison, no equal, no rival, nothing but Him alone.

When we value Him, we will see Him; when we see Him, we will value Him more and more. Once you see Him, there is nothing that will entertain you, distract you, or catch your attention again, because He is so beautiful everything else is a cheap imitation. He alone is on the throne. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

What material are you made of? At the core of who you were created to be in your mother’s womb, you are made of gold. A metal that can withstand the fire. A tested, tried and true metal. When you are born of metal that is made for fire, fire refines you and it defines you.

We as people are invited to call the gold out in others. The challenge is there is a lot of flesh covering up the gold. When flesh faces the fire the smell of burning flesh is undesirable to anyone who has ever smelled it before. Yet the burning of flesh is for the revealing of gold.

1 Peter 4 speaks of fiery trials, saying, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.” Flesh is burning so gold can be revealed.

The Lord is so good to us, He is always seeking to bring the gold out of us. Everyone at the core is made of gold. Revelation 1 describes the eyes of Jesus, “were like blazing fire.” The fire in HIs eyes is calling out the gold inside of you.

The Lord is inviting HIs church to stop resisting the fire of God. We love the fire of God in revival, thinking it is for better or longer services, but the fire of God is for refining and defining who we are. He knows who we are, we don’t know who we are.

Malachi 3:2-3 says, “For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness.” God is refining and defining leaders right now, but it is not going to stop there, it is only starting there.

We all are kings and priests, and to whom much is given, much is required. We can’t call ourselves Christians and not be refined. The fire of God has been lit, the leaders are being refined and defined, but this fire always has been and always will be Hebrews 12:28, “our God is an all consuming fire.” We are made for the fire, so submitting to it is a blessing, He is calling the gold out of you. Stop resisting the fire. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

The turbulence we are feeling is evidence of the transition we are in. The transition is the short period of time between the last season and the next season that is upon us as the church. We have had a long runway during this transition, but it has really taken off now, so things will be bumpy for a moment, but we are headed into our next season as the body of Christ.

Many things can be said about the next season for the body of Christ, and no one person will be able to explain all God is going to unveil in this next season. However, I will say this, it is going to be a glorious season, one like we did not experience in the previous season, which lasted more years than any of us realize.

One of the main themes I am seeing for the next season will be moving from earning to inheritance. Inheritance is a biblical word which has been hiding in plain sight. Inheritance is going to be explored, mined, excavated in a way we need to understand as we go forward.

Psalm 2:7-8 says, “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession.”

Another theme we will experience is the healing of our identity. In the last season we named our wounds which became our identity, but God is going to heal our wounds. God gives land where pain no longer defines identity (Joshua 13). Our pain will no longer be our identity so we can access our inheritance.

Healing identity will mean renaming who we are not based on pain, but on promise, which will unlock for us inheritance and identity. This next season of Psalm 126 being as though we dreamed and a time of preaching with a demonstration of power (1 Thess. 1). We are headed into a new season and we will not look back but forward. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I love the church, I love its history, I love its current reality and I love its mystery. The church is the agent of God on earth and there have been times it has been hidden, there are times it has been harvested. All seasons of this beautiful body called the church have produced fruit for us to taste and see that the Lord is good.

While sitting with my friend Kari yesterday, we talked about what the Lord is saying to us through this ice storm. She shared how as the trees bowed under the weight of the ice, so the church is in a time of bowing before the Lord of heaven and earth. We shared how we see this bowing in creation is manifesting in God’s people and it is beautiful.

I have been hearing the Lord speak about this ice storm in the realm of access. I have friends in the country region of Tennessee and in the heart of the city, both are without power, but neither is without money. No matter how much money my friends have they do not have access to power, so they are living off alternative forms of energy, due to lack of access.

I have thought about this a lot this week, how you cannot buy access no matter how much money you have. In 1 Thessalonians 1, the apostle Paul says “Our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers.”

I believe this lack of access is revealing to us as the church that we have had money, but we have not accessed power. But I see this changing and changing quickly. We may have learned to cope without access to power in the past, but the Lord is declaring, “ACCESS RECOVERED!” The Lord is recovering our access to power.

The next season of the church is going to be one of the gospel of the kingdom being preached with a demonstration of power recovered. Get ready for the two fold reality of preaching and power happening all over the body of Christ worldwide. ACCESS has been RECOVERED! Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

The other day the Lord spoke to me and said, “It’s going to get bumpy, hang on!” This is not something you want to hear, this is something that has to be weighed, is it personal, communal, national or international. So, I have sat on it for a couple days, and then this morning the phrase rose in my spirit, “I sit as a queen.” (Revelation 18:7)

Babylon is prophetic code language for any system of self-sufficiency that believes it is permanent and is oppressive in nature. This is a biblical pattern not just one city. Egypt could be called Babylon biblically, so could Nineveh, Assyria, Rome, Persia, Greece, not just one city, but rather a patter of control.

Therefore, when the Lord sends a messenger (angel) from heaven to declare in Revelation 18, “Fallen, fallen, Babylon is fallen! It is an announcement of judgment on a system of control not one certain city at one certain time in history. Which is why we declare, announce again in our day, falling, falling, Babylon is falling.

Understanding this is about a system that is being judged and not individuals helps us recognize God is on a rescue mission not a destruction rampage. Henceforth, why the Lord says, “Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.”

The question is how do we come out of her? We repent of believing the Babylonian narrative and we embrace the narrative of the kingdom of God. Babylonian control is a narrative, which is why we are pulled into every news story, divided by politics, destroyed by religion, and are emotionally exhausted, but can’t sit still when iced in.

The call of God today is the same as it was then, Come out of her my people, by repenting for the kingdom of God is at hand. Change the way you think, because falling, falling, Babylon is falling. It is going to get bumpy my friends, hang onto truth, for we have an unshakable kingdom. The counterfeit queen is coming down. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Wisdom does not come by saying a prayer, wisdom comes by remaining teachable. Proverbs says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but Proverbs also says, humility is the fear of the Lord. Which means if there is no humility there is no fear of the Lord, and with no fear of the Lord there is no starting place for wisdom.

When we do not have wisdom around us, we think what we know, what we believe, what we hear is the only narrative and we are right. People love what they believe, because it makes them feel safe. People surround themselves with others that agree with what they say, in order for them to remain safe. Anyone that questions what they believe is not safe, so they retreat in fear and then call the one who asked questions, the issue.

Truth is not afraid of being questioned. Truth does not shrink back from questions. Truth stands in every storm. Lies are like fireworks they shoot into the sky, cause everyone to look, then disappear until the next firework arises.

Wisdom is gaining ground in the earth realm and as it does, like in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, it is going to stand up and command attention. Daniel 1 says, “The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”

These 4 Jewish men, spent three years learning the customs and cultures of Babylon and when they were tested on what they learned, wisdom proved itself in the court of Babylon in front of the magicians and enchanters. Wisdom, humility, the fear of the Lord, won the day then and will win the day today.

Watch for wisdom is still crying out in the streets and more and more we are hearing her voice, for she is humility not pride, so she is being exalted while others are being humbled. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Have you ever wondered why Christians are good news averse? It is like we are suspicious of anything good happening. I have wondered why this is. I have searched my own history to understand where the change happened in me, for I used to be more comfortable with doom and gloom, anger and suspicion, rather than love and light.

What I have learned is that when the Lord healed me in places I was deeply wounded, it shifted my narrative from survival to life, from fear to love. 1 John says, “Perfect love casts out all fear.” Once I embraced the love of God, it cast out all the fear that was keeping me in self-protection and survival mode.

Once perfect love is accepted, religion has no power over you, politics does not move you, other people’s opinions or decisions does not control you. Perfect love is humbling, because it heals in a way you did not know you were wounded. Wounds actually color perception more than anything else does and healing, wholeness, love, restores original design and gives us clear sight.

Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus is not just a say a prayer and be saved savior, He is a come to me and let me heal you body, soul and spirit savior. He is compassionate, gentle, and corrects us up. He never leaves us, forsakes us, denies us, or ignores us. He is for us and not against us.

As we come into the presence of God, He heals deep seated wounds that hinder our ability to see the kingdom of God that is at hand. He opens our eyes to all the good news happening. He removes the walls of self-protection and dresses us in a love that cannot be denied. Jesus commanded us to love God and love people, and we need to be loved so we can love. Love changes everything. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

With the televised confession of the Bethel Senior Leadership team, and the subsequent letter that was sent out, the responses are sharply divided. The concern I have is that we as people are revealing our hearts by our response to their hearts confession.

As I watched the service at 10:30am yesterday online, I heard the Lord say as Kris and Bill publicly confessed their sins, mistakes and leadership mishaps, I heard the Lord say, “This is what it looks like when fathers weep”. This morning I read what Jeremiah Johnson put out, which was of weeping willows with harps dream on Discernment Drive.

Now this morning, the verses that came up in my spirit as I was thinking about this public confession and repentance from leaders in the church who have a global reach. The verse I heard was Luke 18:9-14.

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people; robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Whether they are your personal leaders or not, they are leaders in the church globally. Their music and messages have altered the narrative of the church and their repentance is reverberating in the atmosphere of the body of Christ. Our response to the sound of repentance and fathers weeping reveals a lot about our hearts. Listen to what you are saying and thinking as you listen to what they are repenting of. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I walked out the door first thing this morning to take out the dog, and a sheet of ice was on my steps. We did not leave the entryway of the front door. So, onto the backyard we went. Out the patio door onto the deck, where the soft gentle rain was falling on our winter coats, the warmer than expected air made the coat feel unnecessary. The soft snow cracked with the light ice on top as we went out into the yard.

I have been praying for a heat dome over our area, saying snow to enjoy not ice to destroy. The warm air and the light rain made me smile as I pictured a heat dome over our area. But what surprised me the most was the differnce between the front and backyard. One set of steps I could not even consider walking on and the others left footprints in the snow.

This morning I have been reading the prophet Hosea and in chapter 10 verse 12 it says, “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.”

I love this verse because it is a partnership between us and God. We are invited to break up the uplowed ground, and He will shower us with righteousness. Showers falling on hard ground do not penetrate the soil. But a prepared ground can receive the showers as they fall.

To make this practical, I believe the Lord is inviting us to break up some old deeply rooted thinking patterns that we think have been the truth and have felt safe, but have actually been doctrines of men that have kept us from the revelation of Jesus Christ.

When it starts to rain, hard ground is going to have rain run off, but broken up ground is going to receive the rain. We get to decide what kind of ground we are going to be and the rain will reveal it. Bring on the plow! Let it rain!!!! Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Can you hear the new sound rising in the land? A sound of peace, a sound of inheritance, a sound of good news for all nations? The Bible says let those who have ears hear what the spirit is saying to the church. Not what people are saying, what the spirit is saying. The spirit is saying, it is a new day, there is a new sound, there are new orators of old truths.

Israel is a people, a land and a history we are to learn from. One of their battles was worshipping other gods. Most Christians do not think they are doing this, just like Israel, so have we lived with mixture.

God invited Israel into the wilderness and He did the same for many in the body of Christ. The wilderness was hard, lonely, transforming and challenging in ways we cannot describe. But just like Israel we needed the wilderness to transform us forever.

Hosea 1 describes what happens to us in the wilderness. “I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. In that day,” declares the LORD, you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’”

The wilderness radically changes our relationship with God from my master to my husband. It goes from transactional to relational. From distant to personal. We leave religion in the wilderness and we gain a love we cannot deny. Once you go through the wilderness you will never be the same again, which is why those who go through the wilderness inherit the promised land.

Friends, there are voices rising out of the wilderness, not declaring prepare the way of the Lord, but rather be reconciled to God; be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. The voices rising are carrying an inheritance of good news. Can you hear the sound? Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org