Lisa Great

The challenge of delayed consequences for actions is that we begin to believe we are not accountable for what we say and what we do. This is why correction is such a gift and why Hebrews says, God disciplines those He loves. If you have not been corrected, if you are not being convicted, this is not a place of safety, it is actually a place of warning.

When we allow children to act however they want, we think we are giving them a gift in the moment, but we are actually setting them up for failure in more ways than we realize. When we do not hold ourselves accountable, we do not see the need to hold others accountable.

If we believe we can act how we want, say whatever we want, and there are not consequences for our choices, we are more deceived than we realize. Jesus says in Matthew 24, “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?” With authority comes accountability.

The lack of accountability has proven to be detrimental to families, communities, churches, cities, and nations. We have seen this played out in a public way over the years, but for some public accountability has not activated private accountability.

Our lack of conviction, our lack of correction is not a gift, it is a silence before the reveal of the consequences of our choices. This is not to scare us, but reveal to us that God is still holy, the Word is still the Truth, and the standard is still a plumb line, whether we believe it or not.

The signs are all around us, but the call is to course correct in our hearts, changing who we are calling God on the inside. Proverbs 26 says, “Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.”

Friends, we do not get to decide what is right and wrong, we do not get to be the standard of truth. The Bible sets these standards and we are called to submit to them. Conviction and correction is here and coming. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

To actually read, hear and understand Matthew 24, we must remove all the lenses the doctrines of men have put on our eyes and ears. This may be the most lense heavy chapter in the whole bible.

I have been reading my bible for over 30 years, everyday, for not just one verse or one chapter, but for minutes, hours, chunks, at a time and I still hear the voices of others when I read this chapter. For many people it is the loudest chapter in the New Testament.

The challenge is, it is also the most misunderstood chapter, because the minute you enter it we immediately tend to lean towards end times theology. But the question is whose end time theology?

The story of this chapter recounts Jesus sitting on the Mount of Olives with His disciples, when the disciples pose a question to Jesus because of a comment Jesus made earlier about the Temple being destroyed.

We must enter a Jewish disciples mindset in order to understand the Messiahs answer. Here is what the disciples were really asking…”For a first-century Jew, Temple destruction wasn’t just political catastrophe. It was cosmic. It meant the Shekinah departing, the sacrificial system ending, the covenant structure of Israel collapsing. This question was: When does our entire world end?” (Claude)

Everything in their worldview as a Jew was interwoven with the very Temple Jesus just said would be destroyed. This was huge for them. Everything they had ever been taught, everything they had ever known, their national identity was about to be destroyed. The question was not random, it was intentional.

There is much more to say about this chapter, but just knowing this is enough for us to remove the glasses people have put on us and sit in this truth the disciples were dealing with as they looked at Jesus on that mountain. It is more important to us than we have been taught, so sit with it a minute. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

After an incredible day of hanging out with a couple friends, fluttering here and there around the cities we love so much, I came home and sat on the couch to watch a movie. Little did I know the movie I chose would have such an impact on me.

First of all I am not much of a movie watcher. I am honestly not much of a television watcher, so to watch a movie, it had to be something I wanted to see. While scrolling through the hundreds of choices, I found The Great Awakening.

I had heard about this movie, but thought it was about the revolutionary war and the nation of the United States, little did I know it was about a man named George Whitfield.

I sat eyes peeled, ears locked into every word that was being spoken. I was told it was a good movie, but I did not know it was this good. I learned about a man of whose name I had heard of, but never knew anything about.

What struck me most about this movie is that this man was about the word of God being in the forefront. He did not have a band open for his sermon, he did not have three points and a personality to keep people interested. The only thing this man had was the word of God and awoke a nation.

It was said his voice could reach 30,000 people at a time, but what came out of his mouth was not personal stories, it was the word of God. When the people of America in the 1700’s heard the word of God they were cut to the heart. Conviction struck them and they wanted this man they were hearing about, Jesus Christ.

The statement they highlighted that George Whitfield would say at the end of every sermon was awake awake o sleeper, scripture and the word of God awoke a nation; sparked a revolution; put a verse on the Liberty Bell; saved Benjamin Franklin; and cut me to the core again.

If we are going to have a worldwide awakening, we need the word of God, not all the extras, pure, unadulterated word of God. Word that pierces our hearts with truth. Word that sends us to our knees in repentance. Word that melts us in love we cannot deny. The Word will bring the next great awakening. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Being taught the word of God through verses not context has truly caused our theology to be more riddled with the doctrines of men than the truth of the kingdom of God. We quote scriptures and build theologies around one verse that is lying in the midst of a whole conversation. This has caused us to be powerless, because context is where the authority is.

Here is an example. I am reading the gospel of Matthew and in chapter 20 Jesus has a conversation with a man we know as the rich young ruler. This talk leads to the idea of commandments and which ones he is following. Did you know Jesus only asked him about the commandments on the second tablet of the law, which is related to loving your neighbor as yourself?

Jesus never quoted any of the commandments related to the first tablet, love the Lord your God. Hold this thought. Now when I get to chapter 22 of Matthew it says, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” What commandments the only two Jesus gave us, love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself. Same as the two tablets of the law.

What fascinated me is that the rich young ruler was impeccable in the second tablet, loving his neighbor, but in loving the Lord His God he stumbled, because Jesus began to speak to him about his possessions, about money.

Money in Matthew 6 is called mammon and is called a god. Selah. So, when the rich young ruler was invited to submit to the first tablet of the love the Lord your God, he walked away sad because he had many possessions. Money was his god and he couldn’t see it and when Jesus showed it to him he walked away sad, but did not repent and follow Jesus.

Friends, money is a god issue, not a people issue. It is a first tablet of the first commandment of which Jesus says it related to love the Lord your God. Money is a god, and gods demand obedience as an act of worship, why do you think it is so hard to give it away? Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Watchmen are called to sit in watchtowers, not to watch for what they want to see, not to report what they interpret about what they saw, but to only say what they actually see.

In the Old Testament watchmen would watch for any enemy army that may be approaching and when they saw one, they were to send word to those that could do something about what they saw coming (2 Kings 9:17).

Another role of the watchmen was to announce what the Lord was saying to His people. This would be likened to a prophetic watchman. Isaiah 21:6 says, “For thus says the Lord to me, Go station the lookout, let him report what he sees.” Their job was to say what they see.

This is then spoken in the New Testament by Paul when he says in 1 Corinthians 13:9 “For we know in part and we prophesy in part.” If prophetic people only say what they see and allow others in the body to add value or insight into what they saw from the watchtower, we would see more clearly and confusion would be minimized.

With that said, I want to share with you what I see. I see God reconciling nations for peace; and I see economies being restored for distribution. Both of these things I see happening are being done through the governments on earth. But I also see a healing of humanity that earthly governments cannot do.

I see a healing movement fast approaching with the presence of God and the kingdom of God doing a work so fast and so thorough it will astound us. I see with a word deliverance coming; with one hand laid on people and miracles happening. I do not see one person on a platform doing this, I see the presence of God doing this through and to everyone.

I can say what I see and it is fast approaching and it is about to change everything. To have nations at peace, and economies restored, we must have a people that are healed. God is doing a complete work in our day that is beyond anything we could ask, think or imagine. This is what I see. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

1 Timothy 2:1-3 “I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.”

I was thinking about men and the weight on their shoulders. I then had a flash of me on the treadmill at the gym and two men lifting weights together. One was a spotter, increasing the weight ever so slightly, but also holding the bar so the weight does not crush the one on the bench.

I then starting thanking God for the differing measures of weight men are able to carry. Not all men are the same strength level, which is why not all men are carrying the same amount of weight. The heavier the weight, the more the need for a spotter.

Some men are carrying the weight of their own lives individually, for they are single. Other men are carrying the weight of a wife and some are carrying the weight of a whole family. Some men are carrying the weight of a church or company; while other men are carrying the weight of a city. I was thinking of Mayors.

The stronger men are the more weight they can carry. Some men are carrying a state, we call them governors. Still other men are carrying a country, they can be called Kings, Presidents, Prime Ministers.

As I reflected on the varying weights men are invited to carry, I had a strong sense of gratitude arise in me for men who are strong and carry the weight of what God has rested on their shoulders. I then prayed if the weight was too heavy, that other men would see it and grab the bar and lift the weight off of them or spot them as they practice carrying it.

I ended these thoughts with thinking of Jesus Christ, who is carrying the Kingdom of God, the whole of Creation and how the Father and Holy Spirit are right there with Him spotting Him. Psalm 2 says, the nations are the inheritance of Jesus. And Isaiah 9 says the government is on His shoulders.

We serve a really strong God, who carries the nations really well. Thank you men and thank you Jesus, I see the weight you carry and I am grateful for your strength. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Have you ever wondered who influences who? Or is it mutual influence happening, back and forth? It may be as challenging as answering the question which came first the chicken or the egg, when we think about who is influencing who. Is the church influencing the world or is the world influencing the church.

Jesus said in Matthew 16, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Church is people not a building. Paul says in Ephesians 5, this is a mystery, Christ is the head and the church is the body.” A mystery, something concealed that is awaiting its time to be revealed.

Paul uses the mystery terminology on more than one occasion when he says, “The mystery of Christ in you the hope of glory, that has been hidden since ages past.” (Colossians 1) Or even when Jesus said the reason He spoke in parables was because they had eyes but could not see and ears but could not hear. (Matthew 13).

Solomon will not be left out of the conversation, for he adds, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search it out.” (Proverbs 25) Mystery, concealment and may I add one more word, apocalyptic.

Back to the original question, is the church telling the world what apocalyptic means or is the world telling the church. We have movies declaring Apocalypse now; we have books called Late Great Planet Earth by Hal Lindsay declaring apocalypse. We have the church screaming left behind and rapture. But what does the word apocalypse mean.

It is the Greek word apokolypsis and it means the lifting of the veil; an uncovering; a revelation of what already exists but has been hidden. No wonder the book of Revelation begins by saying this is the revelation (unveiling, revealing) of Jesus Christ. The whole book is an unveiling of Someone that could not be seen.

I pray with Paul in Ephesians 1, that the eyes of your heart would be enlightened so you can see the glory of the riches of the saints who are in Christ Jesus. We need an apocalypse, an unveiling of what already exists and it is not what we have been taught. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

The call of God for a nation, for communities, for churches, for us individually is simple to say, but hard to do. The call of God is to “Not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old.” (Isaiah 43:18)

Have you ever thought about how do I forget? How does one not remember things that have happened to us, to our nation, to our community, in the church? Forgetting is a gift from God that we very rarely talk about, because we love sharing memories.

The Bible is filled with calls to remember, Luke 17 says, Remember Lot’s wife; Genesis 8 says, God remembered Noah; Joshua 1 speaks of putting rocks in the river where they crossed over as stones of remembrance. Remembering is a much of a gift as forgetting is.

The call of God right now is for us to forget the former things, do not dwell on the past, but rather behold. Behold is an invitation to Psalm 121, lift up your eyes; Joshua 3 stay fifteen feet behind the ark, we have never gone this way before.

One of the hinderances to the new is our inability to forget the old. What has been experienced is established, what is coming is unknown. But our trust is not to be in anything but God Himself. They were not to trust the cloud or the pillar of fire in the wilderness, they were to trust God.

When we trust God, if there is no cloud, no pillar of fire, no anything, we know we are in a divine pause before a new reveal. If we don’t enter into the gift of forget, we will only echo what others have seen.

Echoing other peoples words do not carry substance, for it is like second hand smoke, when the Lord is wanting to give us first hand experiences. When you see Him, and your response is holy, holy, holy, based on who you saw it carries weight.

We are seeing and will continue to see first hand miracles, signs, wonders, the throne, the eyes of fire, these will not be echo’s of what someone else saw and wrote about this will be our reality. Forget so you can behold. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Do you ever stop and listen to all that is happening in the earth at this time? I know people have so many opinions about so many things, but have you stopped to just listen, watch, ponder, what is actually happening at this moment in history.

Listening is key in this day and age. Listening will give you insight into who is saying what Christ is saying versus who is spouting their own thoughts and opinions. Listening will reveal to you who people are, while speaking reveals to others who you are. Listening, observing, watching, wondering, asking questions, is a posture of learning that is needed when everything is changing.

Matthew 17 tells us a story of a man who had a demon and the disciples could not cast it out. They asked Jesus, why they could not cast it out and Jesus spoke about faith of a mustard seed. Many of us have been taught that is about size, but Jesus was not speaking about size but about nature.

The nature of the mustard seed is that it would become a huge tree, no matter how small the seed was, the nature of that seed did not change. Jesus said faith is the same way. When faith is pure, it does not question what it will produce, because it knows what it is. The seed knew it was a tree.

This generation, like the disciples, have mixture in our faith. We have faith, but it is mixed with unbelief. If you listen, you will hear the mixture. Mixture does not remove the faith, but it does hinder its ability to operate in authority. Henceforth, why Jesus said, this kind only comes out with prayer and fasting.

The evidence of God moving in nations is obvious if you listen. The next great awakening is happening as we speak in mustard seed form. And God is wanting to detox us of unbelief, but it will take listening, learning, leaning into God not the opinions of men. We are in the process of a national and international house cleansing as preperation for the presence of God and power of God like we have not seen in a long time. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Thank you to my friend Claudia for sending me this as an added value piece of information to what God is doing today.

“The date is no accident. On May 17, 1776, the Continental Congress called for a national day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer, asking God to forgive the colonies’ sins and grant them success in their fight for independence. Just weeks later, they declared independence. Now, exactly 250 years later, we’re returning to that same spirit.
Why does this matter?

America was never meant to be a secular project. Our Founders openly acknowledged dependence on “Divine Providence.” They understood that liberty without virtue and self government under God eventually collapses. John Adams warned that our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.”