Lisa Great

The answer to the question of fear is found in Psalm 27, but what looks like, I know what that means, is deeper than what we think we know. Psalm 27 says, The Lord is my Light and my Salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

Believers, as we read this verse we say yes, God is Light to me, I am saved, so Jesus is my salvation and I am strong in the God’s strength. Or some form of that, at least this is how I have always read it. Can you relate, even with some variation?

Well today, the Lord had me hover over the words Light, Salvation and Strength, for those words describe who God is. Out of knowing who God is we can say with the psalmist, whom shall I fear? And of whom shall I be afraid? I think we all would like to live in a reality without fear, so I did some digging.

Light in Hebrew, is presence of God; it is the condition by which we perceive reality rightly. Genesis 1 says, God said, let there be Light, this was before sunlight, moonlight, stars as light. Let there be light was about presence that brings clarity, right perception.

Salvation in Hebrew means to be brought into a wide-open safe space out of a narrow, constricted, threatening one. It includes rescue, deliverance, victory in battle and vindication in a legal dispute.

Strength/Stronghold in Hebrew means fortress, place of refuge, it is architectural and spatial and addresses the fear of exposure or instability, dread or terror.

This means we do not have to be afraid because we know God is our Light (clarity); Salvation (vindication/victory); and Strength (fortress/refuge). God is giving us clarity internally, victory externally and is a refuge eternally.

No wonder the psalmist said, the Lord is my Light and Salvation, who shall I fear? The Lord is the Strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? Friends, when we know who God is, we are safe, secure and strong because of who He is. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

A remnant is a small portion of something larger. The remnant is not special, it is just set apart for a specific reason. A remnant in the body of Christ was cut from the Church as a whole, to become a prototype of what the body of Christ was going to become and enter into.

The remnant is not more special, more anointed, more anything, they just said yes to an invitation of which they did not know would take them through some very lonely, quiet, dark places for the sake of becoming a picture of what the whole body would become.

The apostle Paul was a remnant prototype, who went through some challenges so he could be a picture of what the early Church would be. The same has happened in our generation. The Lord took a remnant into hiding to mold them into a prototype of what the Church is going to look like.

I see a remnant in older, mature people and I see it in the younger and young adults. Some said yes, some were born into the yes. Both are prototypes of the same image God is presenting to His Church in this hour.

A prototype is created, for a picture we can look at because everything is changing. Babylon is falling and falling fast, and with its fall will mean a whole new way of living from striving and surviving, laboring and sweating to resting and rejoicing. This is harder to do than most realize.

Isaiah 14 says it best. “When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution. The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.”

The prototype remnant will teach us how to live in rest and quiet. This is an inside job, of which most do not realize how wound up they really are. But the prototype has been through the unwinding, the training in resting and quietness of soul. So as the Church comes out of Babylon as a corporate whole there are people ready to walk with you as you learn to rest, be quiet and learn to sing again. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

When you walk into a room, whether church, work, school or any other room, do you enter prepared to add value or are you going to get something? Worship teams come to add value with the songs they prepared before your arrival. Preachers come to add value through the sermon they prepared. Managers come with to do lists and meetings on the calendar. What do you enter a room to do?

I was in church yesterday morning and during worship the spirit of intercession came upon me and I began to war in the spirit for what God wanted to do in the room. This does not happen ever week, but it did happen this week. Warfare prayer is what God wanted yesterday morning as the atmosphere was sluggish.

While bent over at the waist in warfare prayer, the Lord said to me, “There are rivers of living water inside of their bellies, but there are dams blocking the rivers inside of them.” As I saw the dams blocking peoples rivers from flowing out in worship, I began to decree break through the dam.

As I continued to pray, I saw the dam as double doors, not one single cement wall. I looked at those double doors in people’s bellies and I decreed be opened. One of our pastors spoke a word of exhortation, then the worship leader called people into the breakthrough.

We continued to sing, I continued to pray, and it was warfare for the release of the rivers inside of God’s people to go forth. I found myself in the spirit driving arrows in the ground spiritually so whatever enemy was holding the doors shut, would capitulate.

2 Kings 13 says, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” This was Elisha’s instructions on how to defeat the enemy. As we worshipped we began to clap in a war clap and it was like we were striking the ground, breaking down dams and opening doors.

What a morning it was, and what a day it can be if we walk into rooms wanting to add value, so others can have a breakthrough. I hope you use your authority for others, for they have rivers of living water inside of them. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

THEOLOGY for some this is a big word and is reserved for intellectual Bible scholars; religious leaders; and seminary professors. But the word theology means the study of God. Everyone should want to study theology, everyone should want to study, get to know, spend time with God.

The challenge is, most of us have not met people who are in positions in religious situations who have studied God, we have encountered people who have studied the horns, the bowls, the thunders, the Anti-Christ, the beast, Jezebel, Ahab, the seven seals, the seven spirits, the gifts, the you name it.

We are divided on what we think these various and so many more issues that are discussed in the Bible mean. The reason we are divided is because we have not studied God, we have studied prophetic language.

Unity will come to the body of Christ when we get back to theology, the study of God. When we study God, we learn His nature, His character, His thoughts, His ways, His heart. God does not change, He is not schizophrenic, He is not double-minded. He is God, He is truth and He is amazing when you get to know Him.

The study of God is what we need in our churches and our lives. If we don’t know God we will not understand the words of God written by the people and prophets of God. We must start with God, not bowls, seals, thunders, beasts, dragons, or Nephilim. We must start with who is God.

Once we know the nature and character of God it changes everything about the way we read the word of God. Remember God is the same yesterday, today and forever. There is not an Old Covenant and New Covenant God. There is one God.

My prayer for the body of Christ is that we would get our theology right. I pray we would study God; we would want to know God in Jesus Christ, for He said, if you have seen Me you have seen the Father. Unity and healing will come to the church when we study the nature and character of God who is love. This shift will heal people in ways doctrines never will. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I received a phone call yesterday that led to a conversation about a spirit of torment that has pestered this person for six years. The spirit of torment causes anxiety, fear, and even depression. The battle is real for her and now that we know what it is we can deal with it appropriately. 

I was walking this morning and praying for my friend and asking the Lord how to deal with this and I heard, “The Holy Spirit is a superior spirit to this tormentor which is an inferior spirit.” Immediately confidence came and I began to evict, eradicate and command this spirit of torment to capitulate. 

With this in my thoughts all morning, I sit down to read my Bible and the Holy Spirit starts speaking to me about the war in Iran. I was led to look up the ancient city we are dealing with. The ancient city of Iran ties to the ancient spirit and it is headquartered in Persepolis. 

Persepolis was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (c. 550–330 BC). The exact function of Persepolis remains unclear. It was not one of the largest cities in ancient Iran, let alone the rest of the empire, but appears to have been a grand ceremonial complex that was only occupied seasonally. (Wikipedia) 

This principality in Iran is not surrendering, and the Lord said, “Dispatch Michael and Gabriel, for they have dealt with this spirit before.” Daniel 10:13 “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.” 

When we know the Holy Spirit is a superior spirit to every other spirit which makes them inferior, there is no fear of speaking to those angelic hosts that can help in a spirit that does not want to capitulate. Gabriel and Michael are archangels of God, who is the commander of angel armies. 

This war with Iran must end, for the Iranian people and the world. There is no spirit, no principality, no ancient enemy that can withstand the Holy Spirit, so we decree capitulate, evacuate for there is a superior spirit in the earth, called the Holy Spirit. The tormentor must go now in Jesus name, whether personal or international. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I have been pondering the idea of how much teaching is out there in the airwaves. Podcasts, videos, pulpits, conferences, books. It is actually quite overwhelming how much information we have access to. People can literally find whatever they are looking for in the realm of information.

In an Information Age, we are in an information war, not just in the world, but in the church. Because of this the question becomes, do we need another orator? Do we need another church? Do we need another group singing with us? And what will distinguish the genuine, the authentic from the counterfeit?

As we have information in abundance, the Jews had rabbi’s in abundance. Rabbi’s would walk the streets, the countryside with their disciples and they would train them in their teachings. This looked different than we have but it was the same concept.

Therefore in Acts 4:13-14 when it says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.”

Peter and John were talmid (disciples) of Rabbi Jesus. “In rabbinic culture, a disciple’s whole aim was to become saturated with his rav — to speak his rulings, carry his cadence, embody his authority, so much so that the sages said a good talmid should be “covered in the dust of his rabbi.” When you heard a disciple teach, you could often tell whose school he came from — his content and manner betrayed his master.”

What is going to distinguish the disciples of Christ in a world of a lot of information? The answer is the presence of God and the dust of Jesus on us. Information is great, but presence teaches what podcasts can’t. There are people who will be known for the presence of God and that only comes from time spent with God. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

How hungry are you for the truth? How willing are you to let the truth change your life? Or are you one that is saying, like Pilate said to Jesus, what is truth?

In a post-modern world, we have lost truth which means we have created our own plumb line. Creating our own plumb line has allowed deception to become truth and truth to be suspect. This was not malicious nor was it intentional. We have been dipped in deception so we have unknowingly believed a lie.

When a lie is baked into who we are, it is hard to remove it from us without a hunger for truth that is willing to let go of literally everything. Beliefs are strongholds, they are infrastructure. They have kept us in bondage and yet they have felt safe for they are all we have ever known.

When a lie is exposed, first reactions are usually to defend it, rather than consider it to be a lie. Not because we are evil, but because we have been so dipped, we are shocked we have been deceived. It can be easier to remain in deception, because to believe the truth takes humility and humility takes strength of character.

There is a dismantling of everything we have ever known. It is a slow dismantling, because we couldn’t handle it if it happened quickly. Cognitive dissonance would cause us to shut down and we would be shell shocked if we knew how deceived we are and how lied to we have been.

The church has been dipped in Babylon not kingdom culture, so without recognizing it we have been deceived more than we know. God is slowly dismantling our Babylonian theology we call Christianity and drip drip dripping kingdom into us. But it is a complete dismantle and rebuild that is needed not a renovation.

We are not wicked we are deceived. We all have been lied to and didn’t know it. But God is giving us grace (empowerment to succeed) so we are endued with power (Acts 1:8) to humbly accept the truth so we can finally be free. Humility is the master key out of Babylon. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

One of the passions I have is boating. I love the water, I love the wind, the waves, the swimming with friends, the water skiing, boogie boarding, tubing, I love all of it. My dream is to have a cabin on a lake where I could write and have a studio to produce videos. It would also be a place where friends could come to go boating and barbecuing.

Until that dream comes true, I have the honor of hanging out with friends who have a boat. Kathy, every year invites me at least once to go on a boating trip with a group of ladies. Who will be on a boating trip is a surprise, and I love how people we don’t usually hang out with all gather on the boat for a day of laughter and lunch.

Yesterday we did just that once again. I loved watching the smiles, hearing the conversations and for me driving the boat. While the wind was whipping in our hair, I was driving just enjoying every moment behind the wheel and the Holy Spirit says to me, “Have you ever looked back while driving the boat?”

I thought this was an interesting question, and I said, no, I don’t look back while driving the boat unless there is someone I am pulling on skis, an inner tube or wake board. The Holy Spirit then said, “I want my people to drive boats not cars, for when they drive cars they are looking in the rear view mirror and I want them to look forward only and enjoy everything in front of them.”

I was not expecting that while living my best life. But then I realized, of course the Lord said that at that moment, because I was living my best life and He wanted me to know how to maintain that even when not on the water.

Friends, face forward, stopping looking behind you, enjoy the ride, enjoy the wind, enjoy the waves, enjoy the people in your life. You are not pulling anything so there is nothing to look for behind you. God has good things in front of you. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Have you noticed in yourself and in others the insatiable desire for more? It is like one thing happens then when it is over we are on to the next thing. We as people have an insatiable desire for more. More miracles, more answered prayer, more blessings, more money, more relationships, more, more more.

We serve a God of abundance, so I do not think there is anything wrong with exploring and asking for more. I actually think many people think too small not too big, so we need to dream, we need to express desires, we need to cry out for more.

One of the songs that vibrated in my soul when I first got saved said, More Love, More Power, More of You in my life. I would sing it from my guts. This is still an anthem in my life, I do not want to ever become complacent in my life when it comes to Jesus Christ.

However, when we are in a perpetual state of wanting, asking, desiring more or waiting for something yet to manifest, we are anxious, fearful, disappointed, critical, discontent, and tend to complain. We all do it, whether people know it or not, everyone of us has a desire that is yet to be fulfilled and it aches.

Psalm 37:3-4 help us with our ache. “Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land, and FEED ON HIS FAITHFULNESS. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

The Lord is inviting us to FEED ON HIS FAITHFULNESS. His faithfulness is our food when we are starving for a breakthrough, an answer, a manifestation of whatever it is we are waiting for. We are being invited to feast on His faithfulness.

When we take time to really meditate on how faithful God has been to us, how good Jesus has treated us, how powerful the Holy Spirit in us is, we have a lot to eat. When we only focus on what we do not have yet, what we want, rather than on His faithfulness we will remain hungry for more. Slow down, feast on His faithfulness, it will satisfy your hungry soul. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I’ve never realized how many times we go in an out of things. We go in and out of relationships, we go in and out of jobs, we go in and out of churches, we go in and out of living arrangements. In and out, in and out. I never realized how hard it is for us to remain.

Remain: meno in the Greek and it means to abide, to stay in a given place, state, relation or expectancy; continue; dwell; endure; be present; stand; tarry.

We live in a culture that wants out of anything and everything the moment it gets hard, it gets uncomfortable, it doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t meet our needs, it hinders us in any way. We seek advice and people say just divorce him, just leave, get out of that friendship.

We add labels like it is toxic, co-dependent, he is a narcissist, she is nagging, that is not healthy for you, and on and on we go with counseling language that has become cultural.

Then church people say, move on, they are not meeting your needs, find somewhere that celebrates you, your gifts are not wanted there so keep moving, and we move on from people, places and situations.

But the spirit of the Lord is declaring from heaven, REMAIN! Remain, remain, remain, all I need you to do is remain. Because we do not just leave churches, friends, marriages and jobs, we leave God. We move on from God when the healing doesn’t happen, the prayer doesn’t get answered, the money doesn’t come.

The Lord is saying to us as the church, I need you to REMAIN. Remain in my love, remain in my truth, remain in my pace of grace, remain in the authority I have given you. REMAIN, REMAIN, REMAIN.

Is it hard to remain, yes. It takes grace, patience, communication and a lot of forgiveness. Jesus remained when rejected, Paul remained when persecuted, Deborah remained when all of Israel was going astray. There is power in remaining. There is a blessing for those who remain. Look again, the call is to remain. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org