Author: lisagreatenebeli

In worship yesterday at our church, Hope UC Nashville, with Dustin Smith leading worship, the Lord took me into an encounter that will mark me for life. I was put in a tube, like that of a tube at a bank drive thru, and I was shot up into the heavenly realms. Once in that dimension, I saw what looked like beams of light shooting back and forth. In my mind, I thought the kingdom of God is like a freight train, but I was quickly corrected in my thinking as I heard, “The kingdom of God is a force that is unstoppable!”

The words reverberated inside of me in such a way I knew it was marking me. As I watched this force of light moving in this heavenly dimension, I stuck out my hands and the light went through my hands. I left my hands up as the light went through me, around me, in me and all I know is that the power of this force of light was undeniable.

The lyrics we were singing while I was having this vision, encounter, experience was “Sing hallelujah, the Lion of Judah has overcome…” The words matched the experience and I realized the force of light, love, hope, joy, peace, righteousness and presence God has available to us. In that moment, I knew there was nothing on earth that can stop the force called the kingdom of God.

Matthew 11:12 (NLT) says, “From the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.”

The kingdom of God is resisted by the religious, the political and spiritual forces, but God has put the kingdom of God inside of us in the Holy Spirit. As we partner with God, the force I experienced in this vision is available to us on earth. It will be resisted, but it is unstoppable and when you see it, experience it, your faith, like mine, will never be the same again. It is not longer words, but an experience I can’t deny when I say, “Nothing is impossible with God.” He is is force that is unstoppable!

Living in an urban city, a developed country, a technology culture, it is hard to understand the parables of Jesus for most of them are agricultural in nature. I love how Jesus spoke to the audience in front of Him, so they could understand what He was saying. If we don’t understand agriculture life, we do not understand parables about sheep, wheat, weeds, soil, seed, or other parables Jesus shared with these themes. Thank God for technology, there is nothing we cannot learn about without a little studying.

We have been taught that revival, salvation of souls, are indicators we are living in harvest season. We hear of college campuses having moves of God; baptisms happening; more services being added; or even tent meetings with signs that say revival and we call it harvest season. Which it could be an indicator.

However, Jesus says the harvest is also identifiable when you see seperation taking place. We don’t like the idea of people being separated into two categories, but Jesus was not afraid saying it. He separated sheep and goats, wheat and tares, and even weeds and wheat. Seperation is a sign of harvest season and I believe we are in harvest time right now.

Matthew 13:27-30 says, “Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’

Seeds are hidden until they manifest above ground. Once they manifest we can identify whether they are wheat or weed seeds. Both have been growing together all around us and in us. But it is harvest time, for the manifestation of these is here and the seperation is upon us. God is bundling and sending through the fire for refinement those who have been tending the weeds called the flesh and He is gathering those who have been tending the wheat called the spirit.

Both flesh people who operate in the natural and spirit people who walk by faith have been growing side by side, but a seperation is upon us. We see it in the news when we hear of people stepping down from major positions; we see it in our neighborhoods as people are hearing revelation knowledge in homes. The manifestation of seperation is the identification that we are in a harvest season. Gathering one and refining of another is happening right now, the seperation is because it is harvest time.

As a self-proclaimed “gold digger”, I have always looked for the “gold” in other people. While anyone can see their dirt, call out their flaws or devalue who they are, the Lord has taught me how to see the gold in them. For decades I have been digging for gold in other people. I have never been concerned about the dirt in their life, for once I see the gold, the dirt is just covering up the treasure of gold in them.

Now this morning, the Holy Spirit speaks to me and says, “It’s time to drill for oil!” I pondered this phrase all morning long and realized, I am not familiar with the process as it pertains to drilling for oil. After some research I learned there are two kinds of oil wells, dry wells and oil wells. This is why oil drilling is such a high risk, high reward reality. It can cost a lot of time and money only to find out the drilling for oil yielded no return on investment.

However, the Lord is saying a change is happening, the days of digging for gold are not over, but we are adding drilling for oil. Oil is trapped in rock, so not only does it take discernment to know what rock is trapping oil, but it also takes the ability to penetrate the rock so the oil can be released.

As I learned all this through study this morning, the Holy Spirit reminded me of Matthew 16:18 which says, “Upon this rock, I will build my church.” And how Jesus changed Simon’s name to Cephas, which means rock. This means when Jesus met Simon, he knew there was oil in him, so he called him a rock, but Jesus knew He was going to drill for oil in Peter and that Peter would produce multitudes of barrels of oil. Peter was not a dry well, he was a deep well of oil.

Now oil is the anointing and God has been and is drilling for oil in our lives, but it is locked up in the hard places in our lives we refuse to let Him penetrate. Get ready friends, not only is God having us dig for gold in people, but He is now adding we must drill for oil. We must have oil come out of the body of Christ, for the anointing (oil) breaks the yoke.

Placing a premium value on independence has done as much, if not more harm than good. Independence is actually a sign of distrust, immaturity and pride. Why do I say this? Because when we live with a high value on individuality, we actually miss the opportunity to come into the kingdom of God on earth.

The kingdom of God is a dependent culture of honor. We are to enter like little children. Children are called dependents. We are invited to come into a kingdom that has a King and others who are children. Children is not childish, it is childlike. Our independence has hindered our ability to enter into the kingdom.

Another challenge we face is we do not value legacy. We expect our kids to chart their own course, pave their own way, create their own path. It sounds so fun, but it is the hardest thing to do and it actually does not allow us to advance, because we always have to learn it on our own.

When we surrender our independence, lean on others, trust the Lord and His people, we will enter the kingdom, embrace legacy and three generations will walk together to advance the kingdom. The older generation has wisdom we need, the younger generation has energy we need, the middle generation gets to glean from both and together all three advance the kingdom.

Psalm 105 says it this way, “He has remembered His covenant forever,
The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan As the portion of your inheritance.”

There are no self-made people in the kingdom of God. It is a culture of dependence and honor. To enter you must lay down your culture of independence, for in the kingdom we are dependent on our King (Jesus) and each other.

Did you know that how you see something determines what you believe about what it is you are seeing? More often than not we see something and do not think much about what we see, because we are so familiar with what we see, so we assume what we think about what we see is correct.

One of our challenges is we do not challenge our own thinking, therefore we remain in a state of stagnation because we live without dated information. Have you ever asked yourself when is the last time I did an update on the way I think? We update our phones, our computers, our televisions, but the greatest technology we have is our thoughts, yet many of us never update the way we think.

God has released some incredible updates for the way we think, but we must hit the install now button in our heart, so He can download some new ways of thinking inside of us. This will also remove some bugs that have hindered our operating system. He is Ancient Intelligence and He knows everything, His updates are always upgrades for our benefit, if we will take the time to receive them and let Him restart our systems.

Here is the upgrade I received today from Proverbs 14:11 “The house of the wicked will be destroyed, But the tent of the upright will flourish.” A house sounds more stable than a tent and yet it is not about the structure it is about who is dwelling inside of it. No matter how stable, strong and settled wickedness looks, it is going to be destroyed. The Lord said, “Don’t let the structure make you think one is stronger than the other.”

My upgrade is I would rather be with the righteous in a tent and flourishing than be with the wicked in a house that looks stable but is being destroyed. We cannot be moved by what we see, but rather we need to be upgraded in the way we think. Say it with me…”UPGRADE MY SYSTEM!”

Proximity is about power and responsibility. When we are gifted with proximity to people, it is not something to be treated lightly. Proximity is not given freely, it is given over time. It takes time spent to gain proximity in someone’s life. There is an investment made; sacrifices are given; trust is built; before proximity is granted.

Proximity is power, not because we are associated with their name, their resources or their influence, it is power because we have been given the privilege of being brought near to them. With this power of proximity comes great responsibility. We are responsible to care for their heart, protect their secrets and treasure the trust they gave us.

Many people desire proximity, but not everyone is willing to pay the price to have it; most are not willing to invest the time and energy to obtain it. Most people want the benefits they see that come from proximity, but they are not willing to make the investment to obtain it. This goes for people and God.

Deuteronomy 10:8 says, “At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD to stand before the LORD to minister to him and to bless in his name, to this day.” God chose one tribe out of twelve to have proximity to His presence, but it came with the three distinct responsibilities.

1. To stand before the Lord (intercede)
2. To minister to Him (worship)
3. To bless in His name (speak over others blessings)

Every tribe had a different role to play in the nation. The tribe of Levi was given proximity to the ark of the covenant, the presence of God and it came with great responsibility. Many people want access to God’s presence (proximity) but they don’t want the responsibility of interceding for others; ministering to God in worship; and blessing people in His name.

God is generous, loving, patient, kind, gracious, powerful, strong and nothing is impossible with Him, so when you have proximity to Him there is responsibility expected from Him. We must be like Him if we want proximity to Him, for we represent HIm. Proximity is available to all who are willing to die to themselves in order to represent Him. He is always wanting us to come closer in proximity to Him.

What feels like walking in the dark is not evil darkness it is the darkness called the unknown. Interpreting correctly the darkness we are walking through is important. If you are living in sin, yes it is evil darkness, but if you are following the Lord and it is dark, that is the unknown, not evil.

In prayer this morning the Lord and I were discussing this and when He showed me the darkness is the unknown not evil, He started speaking to me about the Abrahamic Anointing that is on people right now who are walking in the dark, but it is not evil, it is unknown.

Hebrews 11:8-10 says, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.”

The Abraham Anointing is what is on the those who are obeying God, but still feel like they are not clear, can’t see where they are going, and don’t understand what they have done wrong. You know who you are. But the Lord would say to us today, it is not evil, it is not delay, it is not denial, it is unknown, because of the Abraham Anointing on us.

The call to those who have the Abraham Anointing is to obey God and keep pressing on to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. The city is not something man built, that is why it is unknown, they can’t look back to find it, they must keep their faces forward and their feet following the Lord in obedience. The Abraham Anointing is on a company of people on earth right now and they must not settle, they must keep moving, for the city is a bride and she belongs to Christ and this is what God is building.

Growing up in North Minneapolis, we would cut through yards to get to our friends house. My back door was only one cut through yard to my dear friend’s house. He and I were tight, we went to school together, we hung out together, our families were friends, it was so nice having him only one street over from me growing up.

Being teenagers in the 80’s was so different than today. Our parents disciplined us, and sometimes even publicly without shame. I would get a pinch under the arm, a swat on the butt or even a look while in the mall that I knew I was to get back in line immediately. It was not abuse, it was called discipline and it trained me to be responsible, it caused me to mature, and it taught me how to treat my mom and other people.

My friend across the street had a similiar upbringing. I remember one time coming through the yard to come see him and his mom was disciplining one of the kids in the front yard. I knew to wait til she was done, so I paused before preceeding over there.

Discipline is where the word disciple comes from. If we don’t want to be disciplined we are not disciples. Then if we are leaders, we are under even stricter discipline first privately, but if we don’t respond, then publicly. We are living in a time of public discipline by the Lord on His leaders in both church and culture. It has gone public for some and is happening privately for others.

Psalm 99 says, “Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel also was among those who called upon his name. They called to the LORD, and he answered them. In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them; they kept his testimonies and the statute that he gave them. O LORD our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them, but an avenger of their wrongdoings.”

We love God’s forgiveness but He is also an avenger. An avenger means “God held them accountable not to destroy them but to discipline them —- especiallly since they were leaders. God held them to a higher standard. Discipline was correction not destruction. God as an avenger means accountability.” (ChatGPT)

The God who is an avenger is disciplining not destroying people publicly. It is time for us to pause, hold our tongue and watch, not comment, criticize or condemn those who are being disciplined. If you grew up with discipline, you know both biblicallly and personally we only discipline those we love. God loves us so much He is being an avenger with His leaders in church and culture, because He has forgiven them but He needs to discipline them to show them He loves them.

When something is allusive, hard to figure out, confusing or a mystery that seems confounding there is a good chance it is because either the truth has yet to be revealed or there is a deliberate concealing taking place.

For years I wondered what does the phrase, “the fear of the Lord” mean. Was I supposed to be afraid of God; was God so awesome and powerful, that I was to live in fear of Him. Oh the many thoughts I struggled with wondering what does this simple yet profound phrase actually mean.

Then you add that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and now if I want wisdom, I need to understand the fear of the Lord and the puzzle seemed to get more and more hard to assemble in order to see the truth about this phrase, the fear of the Lord.

Throughout the whole Old Covenant, the message about Jesus as the coming Messiah was always there. It was hidden until Jesus Christ was revealed on earth as noted by the gospel writers. They knew the words, for the Hebrew people were avid readers of the Torah, the Psalms, and the Prophets, but it wasn’t until Jesus was revealed, that they saw the truth that was always there.

We are living in a time in history where the truth that has always been there is being revealed. What used to be hard to understand because of deliberate concealing, is now being revealed and setting people free. It is happening everywhere. We are in a holy visitation.

What then does the fear of the Lord mean? Proverbs 8 tells us, “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.” Not only does Solomon tells us what the fear of the Lord is, He tells us what evil we are to hate. Simple, straightforward and right there in Proverbs 8.

The body of Christ is about to have a revelation of the fear of the Lord and as we do, the honor of God will be restored to the house of God, so we can experience a biblical move of God. Mystery solved.

When I first became a Christian, back in 1989, one of the first lessons I learned was about the body, soul and spirit. What I was taught was, the spirit is supposed to lead, the soul and body are to follow. I was told if the body or flesh leads then we will get into situations that are challenging for the spirit will not follow the flesh. It was a simple teaching, but it helped me understand with a visual, like that of a train, how to be led by the spirit and not by my flesh. Maybe you were taught something similar many years ago. 

This morning, I am praying Psalm 97 and the Holy Spirit reveals to me, not a train, but a processional. This procession is Psalm 97:3 “Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around.” What I saw was fire in the front, then the Lord next and finally I saw the body of Christ following behind the Lord. It was a processional I saw in the spirit. 

The Lord began to speak to me and said, “If you stay in your place in the processional, I will deal with the enemies before you even arrive.” I immediately saw how the fire of God leads to consume all the adversaries, so when the Lord goes in the enemy is already dealt with and then we follow. I sense we get into battles we were never meant to fight because we are in the wrong location in the processional. 

Fire goes first, then the Lord, then us. This order keeps us safe, keeps the enemy dealt with by the Lord and then we walk in the victory He already won for us. The challenge is we like to run ahead of the processional, for we do not like the pace, nor the timing of God. We think He is moving to slow and we think we know more than He does. We must get back in the processional of God and follow, not try to lead. 

It is the same thing I learned when I first got saved. It is always for our safety, not for our stiffling. Get in the procession of God behind the fire, and behind the Lord, it will make this journey a lot less wearisome, because we are not fighting battles the fire of God was created to win on our behalf. Follow the fire friends, even if the pace is not your preference it is leading the processional.