Lisa Great

We as people do not have the ability to control anyone’s decisions and choices but our own. This reality can bring disappointment and our job is to guard our heart so the disappointment does not become resentment or bitterness. Having friends who are wise is a key to walking through disappointment well.

I was on the phone with a friend moments ago and she she spoke such wisdom to me. I call her a conversational prophet, because she speaks words of life in such a conversational way, that it literally adds value in ways I cannot explain. Her name is Kari Wandrey and she called me this morning and spoke words I will never forget.

I share this with you today, because her words will bless you as they blessed me and I could not help but share them with you today. Here is what she said, “Repentance is just changing your allegiance.” She doesn’t remember who shared this with her, but when she said these words they carried authority.

My job is to keep my allegiance to the Lord correct, and when my allegiance shifts, I need to repent in order to restore allegiance to the Lord. We cannot repent for anyone else, which is why when we see their allegiance shifting we cannot control that for everyone has a free will. Selah.

Next she said, “If we try to be the healing in another persons life, it will leave a scar, but if we let the Lord be the healer in their life there will be no scar.” What!!! Drop the mic!!! She then said, this is a new way of walking for us, but it will be what others and we need. Selah.

Finally, she said, “Don’t put a bandaid on what God wants to put oxygen on.” How often do we want to cover up the wound, rather than expose it to the air that can heal it. God has words of life, breath and spirit that can heal when exposed to His breath. Selah.

I hope you have friends like this in your life, for the words she spoke were life, healing and much needed adjustment to what I was saying to her. I am blessed to have this woman on my team of friends. I hope her words heal you like they healed and helped me this morning. Thank you Kari, I am forever grateful for you. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I moved into my neighborhood 5 months ago. I met the neighbor on one side while looking at the house and I met the neighbor on the other side once we moved in. Both families are incredible. I struck the jackpot when it came to neighbors and I have been loving living with them on my left and my right.

Kids playing in the yards, dogs meeting and enjoying one another, relationships being established, it has been a dream living in this neighborhood. Everyone is so nice, so helpful and I know I was brought here to add value to the already amazing people on this block.

This morning I walked out of the house to walk the dog and the neighbor on one side sees me and asks can she park her car in front of my house for they are getting a pod delivered today. I said, of course, but why the pod are you moving? She said, yes because my husband I are separating. My heart sank. Her sadness was obvious.

I continue to walk the dog and I see my other neighbor with her dog and she crosses the street to meet me on the same side of the street. She lost her husband suddenly two months ago and the grief is real. She says, last night her teenage girls had a program to perform in and two months ago they did the same program and it was the night before their dad died. She said last night was very hard and began to cry.

Both neighbors going through extremely challenging life altering situations and as I am praying for them both this morning the Lord says, “I will restore the years the swarming locusts have eaten.” I was praying restoration for both neighbors and the Lord said, this is not just in your neighborhood it is a decree for anyone who is going through either of these life altering situations.

Friends, neighbors, I am praying for you, Joel 2:25 “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.” God is mending breaches, restoring lost, stolen and destroyed relationships, I am decreeing restore!!!! Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Ecclessiastes 3 tells us there is a time for everything, but how many of us know what time it is? If we are not ones who know how to read the cosmic clock of divinity we will act like mere beasts here on earth gratifying our appetites that only cry for more and are never satisfied.

If we as people cannot read the cosmic clock, we will not know how to act in any given time. Are we a people who only know one way of operation or are we able to pivot based on cosmic timing? The Lord has been showing me that religion loves protocol, but does not know how to pivot when cosmic timing is calling for a different way of moving.

This is why most people’s eschatology has not changed since it was introduced in the late 1800’s. This is why the law of first mention is so hard to deconstruct in ourselves, because if someone says something other than what we first learned we resist it upon arrival.

Proverbs 30 speaks of four things, three of the things are found in nature, the fourth is humanity. Eagle, snake, ship and then a man (v.18-19); or lion, greyhound, he-goat, and then a king with his army (v.29-31). They are grouped together for a reason I did not understand, so sought out the pattern. What I learned was fascinating. It was about timing.

The first set is about invisible, untraceable paths. You cannot trace the path of an eagle, you cannot find a path of a snake, you cannot see the path of the ship and there is not tracing a man in love. Untraceable.

The second set is visible, identifiable confidence, leadership. You can see the lion as a leader in the king of the jungle; the greyhound or rooster, rules its immediate world without apology; you can see a he-goat leading a flock without fear; and the confidence of a king is seen when he is with his army.

The timing question is, do you know when you are to be invisible, untraceable and when you are called to lead confidently, visibly? There is a time for everything and knowing what time it is matters. Can you read the cosmic clock of our current reality? Knowing what time it is helps you know what you should do. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

When hearing the voice of God, because the Lord has access to all information ever spoken, written or yet to be written, He can pull things out of culture that we do not know. I have found He does this to create a hunger in us to seek it out.

Proverbs 25:2 says, “God conceals the revelation of his word in the hiding place of his glory. But the honor of kings is revealed by how they thoroughly search out the deeper meaning of all that God says.” I call it a treasure hunt, others have called it hide and seek, but no matter what it means to you, it is a pleasure to seek out what God is speaking out.

This morning I was reading Psalm 139:4-5 “You know every step I will take before my journey even begins. You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.” Immediately I hear the words, “Ghost of Christmas past.”

This phrase originates in a Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol, published in 1843. The Ghost of Christmas past is a spirit that visits Ebenezer Scrooge. Scrooge is taken back to witness scenes from his earlier life, but he cannot interact with what he sees. He is only a witness. Pure shadow, no substance.

When I read in Psalm 139:5 “In kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past” the Lord was revealing that the past is a shadow not substance, it is an echo of history not a current reality. The Bible says, the glory of the Lord is our rear guard. He protects us from the witnesses, the ghosts, the echos of our past that seek to harm us.

What we have called an attack is a past witness seeking to harm us, so we are shadow boxing with fear, anxiety, doubt, memories, and the Lord is reminding us today, His kindness is following us to protect us from the ghosts of our past. It may be a witness but it is only a shadow of what was, it is not the substance of what is. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

The more I study the life of Jesus the more I realize He was not intentionally rebellious; He did not set out to be disrespectful; He was not trying to be offensive, so why were the religious leaders so bothered by Him and what He did?

There is nothing Jesus did that broke the Law; there was nothing Jesus said that was not the Truth; there was no miracle Jesus performed that did not heal someone. So what was the actual problem with the religious leaders of Jesus’s day?

The answer for them may be the answer for us if we are willing to hear the truth that will set us free. They had been so layered in the traditions and doctrines of men they no longer could hear the Word of God. Jesus shows up as the Word in the flesh (John 1) but they could not receive His words, for they were already full of their own words, thoughts, ideas.

Offended people, angry people, critical people, are quick to resist you people when it comes to the Truth that Jesus speaks, and it reveal themselves as having a problem not Jesus.

Matthew 12 says, “There is one here who is even greater than the temple.” Now to the religious leaders in Jerusalem these were fighting words. He now stepped on truly holy ground. The temple was the greatest thing to them. Everything and I mean everything was about the temple for them. So for Him to even consider saying anything about the temple was crossing the line.

We are the same way, we have something that if anyone tries to address it with us, they are picking a fight and don’t even realize it. It was their sacred cow and we have them as well. Truth is no respecter of sacred cows, for the truth has preeminence. Jesus is the Truth, but how many of us resist Him because our sacred cow is more valuable to us than even the truth?

I can see the barbecue grill smoking as Jesus has started making sacred cows gourmet burgers and once you give Him your sacred cows, your offensive will be a burnt offering to God and you will be free. I hear the call to come to barbecue, but it is a bring your own cow event. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I am in Katy, TX for a conference this weekend and early Saturday morning for hours while sleeping, the Lord was speaking to me saying one phrase over and over again. It was spoken in a cadence I could not miss. He said, “I AM disrobing kings.” I woke up and I could still hear it in my spirit, over and over again, a message the Lord did not want me to forget, but what did it mean?

Biblical imagery of royal robes is never just clothing, for a king it represents:

1. Authority and office. To wear the robe is to hold the power. 2. Honor and dignity come with the robe. Robes distinguish the king from the common man. Disrobing is not humiliation alone, it is the removal of false or illegitimate authority. The Lord said, “I AM disrobing kings.”

I get the sense the Lord is removing the false authority structures that have been hiding in the shadows, pulling the levers of power, without the authorization of the Lord. Romans 13 says, God alone puts people in positions of power, so when people meddle with God’s role as authority placer, then they have no choice when it comes to God disrobing them.

We as the common man do not understand the realm of kings. We see and hear bread crumbs, but we are not sitting at the tables of kings, hearing the conversations of kings, both legitimate and false kings. But God alone, who is the King of kings, sees, hears and knows everything and He said, He is disrobing kings.

Matthew 10:26 says, “There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.” Biblically we have precedence for this from Genesis to Revelation. From fig leaves to Babylon falling, the Lord has a history of disrobing kings and queens who have operated in false authority guised as authentic.

Our call as people is to listen more and speak less for we reveal how much we don’t know when we speak about the bread crumbs we are eating, while kings are sitting at banqueting tables of which we have never seen, having discussions we have never heard. Be still my friends and we will see that He is God for He is disrobing kings. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Church we must move from John the Baptist to Jesus. John was clothed in camel’s hair, this was sackcloth, he wore the clothing of mourners. He was mourning over the state of the nation; he was lamenting over the sins of Israel. He was a forerunner for Jesus who would come dressed in garments of praise, rejoicing and feasting.

This theme is found throughout the gospels. Jesus said in Matthew 11, “We played the flute for you, And you did not dance; We mourned to you, And you did not lament.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”

John was known for fasting as a sign of mourning, Jesus was known for feasting as a sign of rejoicing. Zechariah even prophesied the change that was coming in chapter 8 of his prophecy. “Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, The fast of the fifth, The fast of the seventh, And the fast of the tenth, Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts For the house of Judah. Therefore love truth and peace.’”

Church we must move from mourning, fasting, gloom and doom to feasting, rejoicing, celebrating for we have been forgiven, we have been redeemed, we have been transformed, we have a Savior. Joy should be our disposition; celebration should be our sound; life and life abundantly is our inheritance; and we are more than conquerors.

When the church moves from John to Jesus we will see a revolution of the likes we have longed for but have yet to see. A cheerful heart is good medicine, healing will break out as joy is our disposition. New wine will be served and tables will be set for feasting. I hear the sound of a celebration getting louder and louder. John got you to Jesus, but now you must leave John and follow Jesus. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Many of us have heard the statement of Jesus that says, “The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy…” but how many of us understand what thieves are prowling around. In the context Jesus is speaking of in John 10, the thief is a false teacher, stealing your understanding of God.

Proverbs 24:30-33 says, “I went by the field of the lazy man, And by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding; And there it was, all overgrown with thorns; Its surface was covered with nettles; Its stone wall was broken down. When I saw it, I considered it well; I looked on it and received instruction: A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest; So shall your poverty come like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.”

The thief in Proverbs 24 is a lazy man. So we have a false teacher and a lazy man. As I put these two together I was reminded of a line in the book I am reading called Melchizedek: The New Millennium Priesthood by Nita Johnson. She says speaking of the humility of Joseph, “When you are clothed in humility, the enemy cannot steal your wealth.”

False teachers are those who think they know the truth and are not listening to anyone else and what God is showing them for they have already decided they know the truth. No matter how wrong they are, they will continue to teach what they believe, even if the Messiah is standing right in front of them.

Lazy people are those who do not want to do the work to listen or learn anything new. They are comfortable with what they know and would rather stay asleep than hear truth about something they don’t know. Ignorance is bliss for them, but it has put them to sleep and neglect has set in because of it.

The answer to both of these thieves is humility and as Nita says, “When you are clothed in humility, the enemy cannot steal your wealth.” Wealth is more than money, it includes time, relationships, opportunities, understanding, knowledge. Deuteronomy 8 says, the Lord is the one who gives us the power to get wealth. Proverbs says in all your getting get understanding. Humility, which is being teachable, is what keeps the thief from robbing you. Humble yourself and watch the thief leave. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

If you have heard the gospel and have given your life to Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior, you know that when Jesus died on the cross the curse of sin and death was broken. The reality of a curse being broken is known by most of us, but what we have not experienced is the reversal of the curse that was broken.

A curse can be broken but until it is reversed we can still experience the fruits of the original curse. For example, in Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve sinned, a curse was spoken over them. For Eve it would be pain in child bearing. Many women have experienced the reality of this curse still in operation, even though it has been broken in Christ.

The curse spoken over Adam in the same chapter is that he would work the ground by the sweat of his brow. How many men are exhausted from working to support a family? Yes, men have experienced this curse that is broken but is still in operation.

Even though a curse is broken that does not mean it has been reversed. But we serve a curse reversing, not just a curse breaking God. In one chapter God can curse ground, just like He did in Genesis 3 because of the sins of a people. Isaiah 33:9 says, “The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and shriveled; Sharon is like a wilderness, And Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.”

The fruits of a curse are barrenness, wilderness, earth that does not produce. But the curse is reversed in Isaiah 65:17-18 says, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create.”

We are living in a time in history where curses are being reversed. Many cannot see it, for they have experienced the pain of a cursed land, but God is giving us a new land, a new earth, for the curse is being reversed. Just the other day, spoken over our land were the words of 2 Chronicles 7:14, God is healing our land. Healing is the reversing of a curse. Rejoice, God is reversing not just breaking curses. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Reading our Bible yields a way of thinking that most of us do not hear as we go through our everyday lives. The prophets speak in a way that modern day prophets do not tend to speak. Psalmist pray in a way that most of us do not pray. Patriarchs do exploits that most marvel at but would not attempt.

If the Bible is the plumb line, the standard of what is possible, why we have we settled for humanism when we can have wisdom? Why have we settled for fear when we can have fun? Why have we settled for quitting when we could persevere?

The culture of Christianity today is passive, boring, weak and dull in so many ways, which is why we love hearing about baptisms happening on campuses, revivals breaking out in different churches. But what if this was to be the norm and not the only in certain places?

We serve a God who loves adventure, who created us for exploits, who designed us to function and who longs for us to go and do and be all He created us to be.

It has been a couple weeks since I heard the Lord say to me, “I have paid for more than my people have possessed.” I cannot shake this statement, for there is so much more for us, but do we desire something other than what we have?

It is easy to say well I pray and God doesn’t answer, or I asked and I did not receive. Friends, we are not to settle for less than what the Lord Jesus Christ paid for and He paid for more than we are possessing. Read your Bible, if He did it then He will do it again. Shake yourself out of the sleep of not yet and step into what is right now. He is alive right now. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org