Month: May 2023

We were born into a spiritual war. This war was being waged before we were born, it is an ancient war. Yet, there are times in this war when it is covert and it is not as identifiable, then there are times it is overt and very obvious. When the war becomes overt, it manifests through people in a variety of ways. Some people get violent and take to the streets, others get vocal and out of their mouth comes the evidence of a spirit they may or may not know they are of. We have entered into the overt or obvious nature of this war. With the release of the move Come Out in Jesus Name, this is one of many manifestations of this war going public, no longer being private. With the agenda’s being pushed publicly that once used to be hidden, it is just more evidence the war become obvious. We all know there has been a shift from the private to the public as it pertains to this war.

Since the war is public now, we must be dressed in the armor of God, for the war can sucker punch you at any moment. The shield of faith is needed in this hour to extinguish the fiery darts of the evil one. The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God needs to be the narrative of your heart, mind and soul, for this is a words war. Finally, testing the spirits (1 John 4) is critical in this time, for most people do not know of what spirit they are, and it is important to separate the person from the spirit that has attached itself to them. John said it this way, “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.”

The enemy is seeking to divide people by using spirits of the likes in this hour that is obvous, don’t throw people away, but also don’t succumb to the spirit that is in operation through them. Test the spirits, don’t trash the person. This war is going to be increasingly visible and we must fight with 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 warfare, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” The reveal is in order to heal, wake up and go to war, the enemy is being cast out in Jesus name!

Have you ever thought about why people want you to be afraid? Have you ever considered the power of fear to paralyze you into inacation? Have you ever noticed that fear is without substance and yet it alters what you do significantly? Why does fear have such a grip on people? Why do we succumb so readily to that which we cannot see? When we partner with fear, we give up control of ourselves and are controlled by a narrative which has no substance to it.

I was reading Matthew 10 this morning and the words of Jesus penetrated deep inside of me when He said, “Do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.” Fear silences us, so Jesus says do not fear, rather speak. Fear conceals things, henceforth, why Jesus says He is going to reveal things. Fear is so powerful, it makes us not want to have what is concealed revealed, but Jesus says, do not fear them, for He is about to reveal what they have had concealed, so you no longer fear.

Many have been praying for a third great awakening, but what they don’t understand is that an awakening will be the revealing of that which has been concealed. God has been working behind the scenes in ways we have not seen to eradicate wickedness and establish righteousness. When He reveals what has been concealed, we are going to have a new challenge we face, the truth. The truth is going to liberate us, but at first it might shock us. The shock is going to wake us up, for we have been put to sleep by fear. God is releasing a great awakening of the likes we have never seen in this generation and it is going to remove the spirit of fear that has paralyzed us, so God Himself can mobilize us. We are about to be a move of God!!!

Ever since the month of May has started, I have sensed turbulence in the air. I have been writing it off as other things, but I cannot shake the feeling of turbulence in the atmosphere. It is not personal turbulence, it is national and possibly international turbulence I am sensing. As I was in prayer this morning, the Holy Spirit dropped Psalm 46 into my spirit, so I grabbed my bible and started praying, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.” Using the words of the psalmist and speaking in tongues, I heard the Lord give me an analogy of flying in an airplane.

If you have ever flown before, you know when the atmosphere changes, the captain comes on the intercom and says, we are experiencing some turbulence, please remain seated with your seat belt on and your tray tables in their upright and locked positions. This is what I heard in the spirit. We are going through some turbulence, I need you to REMAIN SEATED. As soon as I heard remain seated, the Holy Spirit said, “Remain seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 1).” Our tendency in turbulence is to come down from our seated position and work a plan in the natural based on the turbulence we are feeling, but the Holy Spirit is saying, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

My friends, we are in and will continue to go through some turbulence for a while. It make get quite bumpy, but God is not surprised or caught off guard by what we are about to go through. The Lord is telling us, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our stronghold” (Psalm 46:10-11). It’s going to get bumpy, but remain seated.

Satan was cast down to the earth but he was not given any authority. Adam and Eve were given authority over the earth in Genesis 1, when God told them to be fruitful, multiply subdue the earth and rule over it. Satan knows better than we do who has been given authority. Therefore, Satan went to Eve and asked for the authority God had given her and she gave it to Satan and then Adam gave Satan his authority. From that moment in Genesis 3 until Matthew 4, Satan had authority over the earth. But in Matthew 4 when Jesus encountered Satan, Satan used the same tactic, but received a very different response. “The devil *took Him (Jesus) to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD, AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’” The enemy has no new tactics, he is always looking for authority from the image bearers of God, for he knows we have been given authority, and the only authority he has comes from us giving it to him. Jesus knew Adam and Eve had given Satan their authority, so when the devil tried the same tactic on Jesus, Jesus knew what Satan was after and He was not giving it away, for He knew His authority came from God to rule and reign on the earth.

The theology of passivity has caused many believers to give away their authority and then they wonder why they are bored, helpless, powerless and frustrated in their Christian walk. When you give your authority away, you cannot operate by original design. Jesus said in Matthew 28, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me and I give it to you now go and make disciples of all nations.” We have been given authority over nations, Satan knows this, why do you think he wants your authority? Church, our job is to keep the authority we have been given, not to give it away and then wonder why the enemy has authority over our nation now. It is time to take back what is rightfully ours and wield the sword of the spirit against the spirit of the age, for we are called to disciple nations in the ways of the kingdom of God!!!

We are living the days of demarcation. I know culturally it looks like the days of blurred lines, melting pot of ideas, no boundaries, a tolerating of all things, but that is because we are living the days of demarcation. There is a demarcation that is becoming more and more clear between light and darkness, old wineskin and new wineskin, male and female. These are the day demarcation. When Jesus came to earth and was baptized by John that was a demarcation time, for even John said, I baptize with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Matthew 3). Moving from water baptism, repentance of sins, to fire baptism, empowerment for the kingdom life was a major demarcation which has greater depths to it than we even understand.

In these days of demarcation, the deeds of the enemy are evident. Why do you think there has been an acceleration of the agenda of the enemy? It is because it has to be crystal clear the demarcation between light and darkness, so people can choose where they want to stand. Solomon says it this way in Proverbs 4, “The path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,

that shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble.” Days of demarcation. We see it everywhere, people who are pursuing the kingdom of God are speaking light light and more light; the main stream media, social media are speaking darkness, darkness and more darkness. We are living in the days of demarcation.

Now, the question is, will you choose light or darkness? It is an individual choice that has to be made, no one can make it for you. The demarcation is so obvious that there is no longer a fence to sit on as you ponder which way to go. The days of demarcation are for the day of decision, who are you going to be? A child of the day or a child of the night? The dark will get darker, the light will get brighter, so the demarcation will be increasing. However, many are aching for those in darkness, because they see that we are in the day of demarcation and yet the invitation to come into the light is always extended, but only you can choose where you want to dwell.

Do you remember those pictures we used to stare at to see the picture within the picture? We used to stare at it and see nothing, but then when you saw the hidden picture, you could not unsee it. I remember when others would see the picture within the picture before me and they would say, can’t you see it and they would describe it to me, but I couldn’t see it as quickly as them. This is the same thing that happens with the word of God, we can all be reading the same words, but not see the picture hidden within the words. When others try to share it with us, we just can’t see it, the challenge is many people don’t keep looking into the Word until they see the picture in the words.

In the days when Jesus was born, magi from the east who saw the picture within the picture came to Bethlehem to see the Child that was born. This spooked the Herod, the king, by their arrival in his country. Here is what Matthew 2:3-5 says, “When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. They said to him, In Bethlehem of Judea;” Herod, the chief priests, and the scribes, knew the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem of Judea, they read the prophetic words, but they missed the picture of the Child, the Messiah that was born. These were biblical scholars, not causal readers. It’s not that they didn’t want to see the Messiah, the Jews were waiting for the Messiah, expectantly. They just couldn’t see the picture within the prophetic words.

My friends, God is amplifying voices that are showing us the picture within the words. Once you see it you can’t unsee it. The kingdom of God is highly active on earth as it is in heaven right now. The news is trying to show you the picture, prophets are trying to show you the picture, friends are trying to show you the picture. If you can’t see it yet, ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to see the picture within the Words of God, for we are living in the most exciting days we may ever live in. Once you see it, you won’t be able to unsee it. It’s that captivating and exhilarating.

One city of mystery is mentioned from Genesis to Revelation and various places in between. The name of that city is Babylon. It is first mentioned in Genesis 11 by the name the Tower of Babel. The word Babylon is usually associated with confusion by mixing because God said in Genesis 11:7 “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, sot that they will not understand one another’s speech.” They built the city, they built the tower, but God named it Babel, confusion. Even the most wicked things man does, God is still in control, He is still sovereign, which is why we never need to fear. Back to Babylon.

I am reading Matthew 1 this morning and even though I knew Babylon was in the book of Revelation, I did not remember it being in Matthew 1, in the very genealogy of Jesus. Here is what verse 17 says, “So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.” When I looked at what Babylon means here in this passage, I was shocked, it means “Gate of gods.” Of course that sends me to Matthew 16 where Jesus says, “And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against the ekklesia.” Hades is the abode of the dead or of departed spirits. Hades is the gate of gods and they cannot prevail against the ekklesia, the church.

My friends, we have been given keys (power and authority) to bind the spirits that are trying to rule in the earth and loose the kingdom of God on earth. What we are going through is nothing new to history, but Who is in you is new. Christ in you is power and authority, not you individually only but you corporately. We as the ekklesia must stand up, identify the god or spirit that is seeking control on earth, bind them and loose the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. We must excercise the power and authority we have been given over the gate of the gods (Babylon). Jesus sent them to Hades, then planted His church at the gate of the gods so we can bind their words at inception. This is huge! Stand up Ekklesia, stand up!

No one has a 360 degree view of themselves, that is why we need each other. There are literally places on your physical body you cannot see with your own eyes if you do not have a mirror. This weekend, I had something on the end of my nose, I could not see it, but one of my friends could and she said, there is something on the end of your nose, scratch it off. She did not scratch it off for me, she told me it was there and said I needed to scratch it off. I was not offended by her words, I was grateful for them. Lord knows I don’t want to be walking around with something on the end of my nose that others can see and I can’t. (Thank you Misty Meeker)

The same is true in the spirit, there are things in ourselves we cannot see but others can. It takes humility to hear what others see in you and not get offended by what they said. If someone points something out in you, it is not to shame you, embarrass you or condemn you, it is to make you aware so you can do something about it. I was reading Revelation 22 this morning and it identifies two locations, one is inside the city and one is outside the city. As I read it, I realized, we have a choice about where we want to live and we have a responsibility in order to live in the city. Listen to the apostle John’s words, “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

It is our responsibility to wash our robes, to make a choice where we want to live. No one else can do this for us, it is our choice and our choice will yield certain benefits or challenges. Do we want everyone to wash their robes and come in, absolutely, but when you share with someone something you see on them or in them, if they resist you, get offended by you, there is nothing you can do, for they have to wash their robe, make their choice and then come into the city. I am a city dweller, I have no desire to be outside, but I also invite people in all the time, but many don’t want to be told their robe needs to be washed, not by me, but by them and so they remain outside the city. It breaks my heart, but I can’t make anyone wash their robe and come in the city. The invitation is there, but the choice is still yours/mine.