Month: March 2017

Here Comes the Bride

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Here Comes the Bride 3.30.17
 
Can you hear the tune of the song, Here Comes the Bride?
Do you remember the lyrics? “Here comes the bride, all dressed in white, sweetly, serenely in the soft glowing light. Lovely to see, marching to thee, sweet love united for eternity”.
 
Last night in worship, I had a throne room encounter where I was taken to the throne room and I saw a wall of dancing flames, they were surrounding a throne. As I stood near the flames, without fear, just watching them dance, and then looking at the throne, the scripture rose in my heart about His ministers being flames of fire. When the singing part of worship ended and everyone else moved on, I was enraptured by what I was seeing. I sat in my chair, so as to not be “out of order”, but I was not in the room per se. I was stunned by the presence of God and this place I was invited to be involved in. When I finally got to the place where I could transition slightly, I grabbed my bible to find the verse and this is what I read…
 
Psalm 103:19-104:4 “The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Praise the LORD, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
Praise the LORD, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will. Praise the LORD, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the LORD, my soul, Praise the LORD, my soul. LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. He makes the clouds his chariot and rides on the wings of the wind. He makes winds his messengers, flames of fire his servants.”
 
I looked up the meaning of the words, flames of fire his servants and it spoke of purified ones who blaze in His presence to minister before Him; His assistants. I was undone again, sitting there in my chair as the Lord revealed to me this is the Joshua generation, this is the bride of Christ. These dancing flames, who are right next to the throne, dancing, attending to, ministering to the Lord is the bride of Christ. She is purified by fire, she is without fear, she is an overcomer, she is not seeking her own way, she is completely immersed in His way. This bride of Christ is a dancer, she is full of joy in His presence, she is radiant, truly without spot or wrinkle and she is preparing herself to rule with Him, that is why she is so content serving Him.
 
You have been purified with fire (Zechariah 13:9), because He is an all-consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28); you are white as snow (Isaiah 1:18), because He is without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21); you are more than a conqueror (Romans 8:37), and He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Many people are taking notice that “something” is coming like we have never seen before, it will be of historic proportion, it is going to change life as we know it today, and may I propose to you, that it is not “something” that is coming, but “someone” who is coming. Here comes the Bride of Christ, all dressed in white! She is coming to add people to her, for there is still time to become a part of the Bride of Christ.

No Delay

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“There is no such thing as delay, there is a lack of understanding the day.” This is what the Lord spoke to me this morning while in prayer. It has become popular to tell people they need to bind the spirit of delay; they need to prophesy, no more delay; and a variety of other variations of this vein. But, the Lord said to me, “there is no such thing as delay, there is a lack of understanding the day.” As I pondered these words, I realized we feel like there is a delay, because we put a time frame on the promise God has spoken. That is not delay, that is us not understanding the day.

In Joshua 6 the Lord speaks a word of promise to Joshua and the children of Israel about the city of Jericho, saying, “I have given Jericho, its king, and all its soldiers into your hands.” When God says something, it is going to happen, but when it happens is in the following verses, for the chapter goes on to release the strategy that needs to be employed for the promise to be actualized. Joshua 6:3-5 gives the strategy, “Every day for the next six days, you will march once around the city walls with all your fighting force. Seven priests will go in front of the covenant chest, each carrying a trumpet made from a ram’s horn. On the seventh day, you will march around the city walls seven times, and the priests will blow their trumpets.  When they play a long final blast, then all the people will give a mighty shout. The city walls will collapse in front of you, and all the Israelites will charge in and take the city.” Anyone of those soldiers could have decreed no more delay after day 1, 2, 3 or more, but it was not a delay, rather they were unaware of the day. If it is day 3, 4 or 5 there was not going to be any sign of victory for it was not the right day.

When we are unaware of what day we are in, based on the strategy God has spoken to us, we will cry, delay! But it is not a delay, we just don’t understand what day it is. People do this with so many things. We do it with prophesy, we do it with scripture, we do it with our end time ideas. If we don’t know the day, we won’t know where we are, but one thing is for sure, there is no delay. Joel 2 says, “In the last days…” (plural); Matthew 24:36 says, “On that day…” (singular); Galatians 6:9 speaks to a “due season”; whereas Romans 13:11 says, “now is the time and the hour…”. There is no such thing as delay, but there is a lack of understanding the days, day, season, time, or hour.

Many of us have a promise from God, we know that we know, God said…but the timing is where we are off. If we were honest, God did not give us a when it would happen, He only told us what would happen. For maturity to take place, it is important that we stop imposing our thoughts, our time frame, our faith in ourselves, rather we must listen not just to the promise, but the strategy about how to employ the promise and then we will better understand the day we are on, so we can be patient in the process, for the promise will not delay. Remember Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”

“Don’t yell or shout. Don’t let your voice be heard until the day I tell you. And then I want you to shout with all your might” (Joshua 6:10).  If you are still in the silent stage, don’t worry it is not a delay, it is just not the day. Once the day arrives, trust me, you will shout, the walls will fall, the victory will be sure and the battle will be won quickly, for the Lord will say, NOW! Shout unto God with a voice of triumph! (Psalm 47:1). It is not a delay, it is design, because with God there is no delay.

Wait For The Mantle

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When other people are getting book deals and you’ve written books with no deal; when others are out preaching, worship leading, doing missions or whatever it is you want to be doing and you are called to stay home and wait, it is not hard to realize how that slight shift from contentment to discontentment can take place. But, there is a still small voice that comes in and says, wait for the mantle. In the story of the Acts 1, upper room, 500 people started in the upper room together, but only 120 were there waiting when the mantle came. That means 380 people left the upper room because they were tired of waiting. Wait for the mantle.

The wait has felt long, some have prophesied, no more delay; others have said we are long overdue; but the still small voice of God says, wait for the mantle. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, “My intentions are not always yours, and I do not go about things as you do. My thoughts and My ways are above and beyond you, just as heaven is far from your reach here on earth”. Wait for the mantle.

What is the mantle we are waiting for? The Lord showed me yesterday, that the mantle is something He is going to put on us, it is not coming from within us, it is coming upon us. He said it is like the garment of praise that is spoken about in Isaiah 61:3 or the mantle that Elijah threw on Elisha in 1 Kings 19:19; He went on to tell me that we are going to be clothed in power like in Acts 1:8 and Luke 24:49. It is literally going to be a mantle that comes upon us like the robe the father put on his son in Luke 15:22. This mantle is going to be put on us, like Joseph’s coat of many colors in Genesis 37:3 and when people see it they are going to see God not us; which will prompt them to ask who is your God, we will not have to tell them they need Jesus. Wait for the mantle.

Then today, as I sat down to write this blog, I Google’d mantle and this is the first definition that popped up, “a loose sleeveless cloak or shawl, worn especially by women”. My jaw dropped, I did not expect to read this, but it completely confirms what the prophets are saying, that God is going to do a mighty work with women, ladies, wait for the mantle, men watch for the mantle, we are about to experience a move of God like none in our generation. Men and women will be wearing a mantle that is so God, people will not want to know your name, they will want to know His name. Wait for the mantle.

In the lyrics of the song Take Courage by Kristi DeMarco remember,

Slow down, take time
Breath in, he said
He’d reveal what’s to come
The thoughts in his mind
Always higher than mine
He’ll reveal all to come

Take courage, my heart
Stay steadfast, my soul
He’s in the waiting
He’s in the waiting
Hold on to your hope
As your triumph unfold
He’s never-failing
He’s never-failing

Sing praise, my soul
Find strength in joy
Let his words lead you on
Do not forget his great faithfulness
He’ll finish all he’s begun

And you who hold the stars
Who call them each by name
Will surely keep your promise to me
That I will rise in your victory

A Woman’s Right to Choose

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Happy International Women’s Day!

One of the mantra’s women live by is there right to choose. It is a God given right and no one can take it from her. She can choose what she does with her body, she can choose how she treats her husband and children, she can choose how she spends her money. It’s her choice. No one can tell her what to do. Yes, this is true, as a woman, you have a choice and this choice was given to you by God Himself. He is not afraid of your choices, for He is the one that gave you the power to choose. He put two trees in the garden and said pick one, it is your choice (Genesis 3). Eve made her decision, she chose the tree of good and evil wanting to be like God rather than choosing the tree of life and trusting God. It was her choice and she chose. No one is trying to take away your ability to choose, they can’t because God gave you the right of choice. But what if they were not trying to take away your ability to choose but were trying to reveal to you the consequences of your choice?

Every human being gets to make their own choices, but with choice comes responsibility and with responsibility comes the need for wisdom because not every choice will produce the results that is says it will on the label. You can choose to have sex outside of marriage, but there are consequences; you can choose to neglect your children, but there are consequences; you can choose to pursue money, but there are consequences. The choices are endless, but the pain we face is not because we made the right choice, but because we or someone else made the wrong choice. Whenever we choose our selfish desires, the results will always produce pain, not immediately usually, but eventually.

Pain that is the result of our choices or someone else’s choices leave women with yet another choice. Women have the right to choose to be angry or break the alabaster jar. Whatever we choose will have consequences, but I will tell you upfront I have chosen both and one produces life and the other produces death. Paul said, “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, outcry and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and tender-hearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.…” (Ephesians 4:30-32). When I struggled with being angry, I did not recognize it in myself, my husband said to me one day, honey, you are very angry. I exploded, what do you mean I am angry, I am not angry. But his words pierced my heart and I sought the Lord and this is what He told me, get rid of anger. I said, Lord, how do I get rid of anger, He said, just tell it to go. So, I exercised my authority and told anger to get out. I know it sounds simple, but the kingdom is not complicated.

Once anger was gone, I had another choice to make, was I going to go back to anger or grab an alabaster jar. In Matthew 26:6-7 we meet a woman who, “While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfume, which she poured on His head as He reclined at the table.” The alabaster jar was broke open and poured out upon Jesus, the smell would have filled the room. I know it was a literal bottle of perfume, but I believe metaphorically it was this woman’s broken heart being poured out on the Lord. You see, anger is a cover up for pain, so people don’t get close enough to you again and hurt you. I know, remember I was angry, but what the Lord showed me is that I was really hurting and didn’t want anyone to know.

When we choose to pour out our heart to the Lord, it is like sweet perfume that fills the throne room. The Bible says, David was a man after God’s own heart and if you read the Psalm’s I believe it is because he was brutally honest with God about his pain. Ladies, we have a right to choose, we can choose to be angry or we can choose to pour out our alabaster jar of perfume. One is going to keep people away from us and one is going to draw the presence of God to us so we can be healed. Your pain becomes perfume in the throne room of God when you pour it out on Jesus, rather than lashing it out on others. You have a right to choose, God says, in Deuteronomy 30:15, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction”. It’s a woman’s right to choose, what choice will you make, anger or alabaster? I choose life and prosperity, I hope you do as well. Happy International Women’s Day!

Seismic Shift

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seis·mic

relating to earthquakes or other vibrations of the earth and its crust.

  • relating to or denoting geological surveying methods involving vibrations produced artificially by explosions.
  • of enormous proportions or effect.

 

I see a seismic shift coming to the Body of Christ. It is a shift on a proportion not seen in our generation up to this point. It started that day Jesus died when the tectonic plates shifted and the earth began to quake (Matthew 27:50-52), it had its first manifestation with the sightings of the resurrected Christ (1 Corinthians 15:6), the outpouring of the spirit on the day of Pentecost and the birth of the church in Acts 2. It has been building momentum since Peter and John healed the man at the gate beautiful (Acts 3). It refused to be stopped at the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7, but gained momentum when Saul became Paul in Acts 9. Then it progressed with the planting of Apostolic Centers in Jerusalem, Caesarea, Antioch and beyond. Josephus wrote about it in his historical records of that day, the church fathers tried to describe it by making it a creed or a doctrine, but it is so much bigger than that. Tyndale and Guttenberg accelerated it when they took the Word of God out of the hand of certain people and put it into the hands of all people. Can you see how this has been building over the years. Setbacks became set ups; hindrances became hemi power; persecution became promotion of the gospel of the kingdom; Marie Woodworth-Etter carried it, William Seymour preached it, John G. Lake manifested it, John Wimber and Billy Graham advanced it, Kenneth Copeland and Myles Munroe promoted it, and many today are speaking it, but all of that was only is a glimpse, for what is coming is glory!

This seismic shift is going to do immeasurably more than you could ever ask for or even think (Ephesians 3:20); we are living in the days of Noah, yes there is water coming on a level that will blow your mind, and just like in the days of Noah it is going to wash away evil, but this time, this wave is not going to only save 8 people, it is going to save whole nations; this wave of glory has been building for over 2,000 years not to destroy us but to redeem us. This seismic shift is going to change the nations on a level that many cannot even dream of, it is going to change the way we think, it is going to wash away the ceilings of unbelief and launch you into realms of faith that you did not know existed. Small minded thinking is going to be washed away and believing that anything is possible will be released. The years of disappointment are going to be replaced with dreams and desires God has put in you are going to become a reality. We are going to shift from the evangelistic approach that tells people that they need Jesus to people coming to you and asking who is your God?

The seismic shift is going to reveal to us the reality of how much we possess and call us to increase our occupation. As children of Abraham, we were promised many things we have not occupied, but as you realize how much you have been given as a possession, but have yet to occupy, it will ignite a passion in you to occupy until He comes (Luke 19:13). Once you see how much God has for you, it will cause faith to arise in you and your desire to obey will come from His goodness, not from fear of punishment. When God reveals His goodness on you, it will soften your heart; give you the grace to surrender, knowing He is good, really good; and will draw you near to Him not push you away from Him; His generosity on you is going to break the spirit of lack, which is rooted in an orphan spirit; His goodness is going to propel you into your possession.

This seismic shift is going to start as a sound that comes out of me and you, then it will be seen on us, in and through us. I’m ready for the seismic shift, are you? Ready or not, here it comes!