Lisa Great

I was praying Psalm 100 this morning and the Lord gave me a biblical correction in my thinking about how we go to church.

Psalm 100 says we enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. This is temple language. They would enter the gates of the temple with Thanksgiving and the courts of the temple with praise. This entering is about us focusing on Him, thinking about Him as we go to temple/church.

In churches today most people come thinking about themselves. They are thinking about their sermon, their worship set, their problems, or something else related to them as they come. But we are not called to come thinking about ourselves, we are called to come thinking about Him.

Psalm 100:4-5 “Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.”

Today is a great day to take a Sabbath break from thinking about you and find things to give thanks for as you enter His gates today.

I was praying Psalm 99 today and when I got to verse 4 the Lord began to explain to me some things about justice. Here’s Psalm 99:4 “The strength of the King loves justice; You have established equity; You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.”

We know righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s Throne (Psalm 97:2) but why is that so important to God and why is justice and righteousness so important to us? God put the attributes of Himself in us that is why we cry out for justice. Here’s what He showed me…

Justice is a manifestation of protection and God is our Father. Justice makes people feel safe. Justice detours others from transgressing against their neighbors. Justice and righteousness are healthy for humanity. Our desire for justice is a desire for protection from our Father in heaven. Justice reveals love to us.

Vengeance is punishment, pain, a desire to see people suffer for what they’ve done. Vengeance is not justice. If we struggle with justice it’s be a we think of it as vengeance. Justice is protection, it’s love, it’s a Father taking care of His children. We long for justice because we long to be protected.

We are going to see justice manifest, not to cause us to fear punishment but to deter those who may one day consider doing what others have done and to manifest protection in our nation. When justice manifests you will feel safer knowing transgressors are not getting away with their transgressions. And it will humble many for justice ripples and rolls and creates righteousness in us, for righteousness and justice is what keeps us from sinning against our neighbors.

When we hear about all the volcanoes erupting; the earths quakings; the winds blowing; the seas roaring; the rains falling; most of us think Romans 8, the earth is groaning for the manifestation of the sons of God. But I like so many never considered that those sights and sounds could mean Psalm 98 the earth is singing a new song in preparation of God visiting the earth again. Actually it could be both groaning and singing for Ezra 3 says these two sounds merged at the laying of the foundation of the temple…”the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.”

We don’t know if we are hearing the earth announce Romans 8 groaning or Psalm 98 the new song, or both, but this we do know the sound is being heard all over the world and the earth is announcing The Lord of Hosts is near and this is good news for all because we need God’s voice to set us straight with eyes and ears on Him again. For He is salvation; healing; prosperity; authority; life; light; truth; and He is good!

The great thing about words is that they may have been spoken before at some time in history but they can be brought forth through us into our current reality. Now because of this some words that we speak produced undesirable results then and they will produce the same results again in our day and time. The same is true for words that produce life, justice and righteousness those are seeds of light for our generation that result in freedoms we so desire. We all carry words into our generation, and today I am carrying Psalm 97 and seeding our atmosphere with its light for our generations revelation.

Psalm 97:9-12 “For You are the LORD Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods. Hate evil, you who love the LORD, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. Be glad in the LORD, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.”

Standing before Him, looking at self through the eyes of self knowing the verdict is guilty as charged. Who knows the self better than the one who is that self. A Holy, undefiled, sinless God, whose purity is piercing and whose truth cannot be denied. Here we stand face to face, it’s no wonder Moses thought He would die after seeing Him. His power to convict, to condemn, to criticize is all justified and right. Then in a moment instead of bringing charges He releases a pardon; in the place of a prison He creates a path into His heart. Who is this God, who is this Jesus? With the power to sentence unto death He speaks life abundantly. The closer we come to Him the more honor, respect, gratitude and awe we have for Him. He shocks us with His embrace, He penetrates us with His shining face. He is God and there is no one like Him, this is why we are invited to keep saying yes to Him!

Proverbs 1:20-21 “Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings:

Wisdom is a town crier and she announces what the king is saying and today the King of kings is announcing the truth that will set captives free; the unlocking of prison doors; the release of jubilee personally, nationally and internationally.

The King of kings announces ancient paths, ancient doors and ancient gates are now opened so the King of glory can come in.

The King of kings announces that glory is going to be added to the story to activate quantum faith, quantum hope, quantum truth, quantum power, quantum wisdom, quantum healing and quantum wealth.

The King of kings announces that the light bearers, the truth seekers, the miracle workers and the kingdom Builders are here and the King announces they are visible, audible and identifiable.

These are the announcements of the King of kings today.

It’s now time for a wardrobe change. Most women love a new outfit, most men love a new vehicle. Same same but different is what they say in Bangkok, Thailand. The Lord is announcing not His second coming but the now time for a new wardrobe change. It’s an upgrade but you must wear it. He’s giving us light suits so when the day breaks we are dressed for the day that is breaking in literally at the speed of light. Cast off all deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light He is presenting to you. I hear the song You’re an army dressed for battle…take the land! (Rick Pino). It’s now time to put on the armor of light.

Romans 13:12 “The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

Today is Purim, the day we remember the deliverance of the Jews from their enemy who at that time’s name was Haaman. This story of intrigue, strategy, divine reversals and deliverance can be found in the book of Esther. It is not a major holiday on the Hebrew calendar, like one of the feasts such as Passover, Pentecost or Tabernacles, but it is a significant holiday for it is a reminder of God as a deliverer of nations.

As our nation is still awaiting deliverance from many injustices that have been levied against it in the recent past and present reality, we as the church are called to be like Esther. She was not emotional she was strategic; she was not impatient she was stealthy; she was not aggressive she was wise. There are many lessons the church can learn from Esther as it came to delivering a nation from an evil ruler within.

The story of Purim is powerful in many ways, and if you read it as though you don’t know the outcome, you can really enter into the story line and it could be a Hollywood blockbuster if done in 007 fashion. But like any good action movie, it ends with the enemy being defeated and the people experiencing victory. The victory was so great the people rejoiced loudly and longly.

On this Purim 2021, remember the God who delivered the Jews from that wicked Haaman, is the same God who will deliver my nation, your nation from that wicked ______________. Today, the Lord had me declare global jubilee for the nations and invited me to open the ancient gates of the earth so the King of Glory can come in (Psalm 24). I am not going to let this day in history just be a memory, I am asking for it to be another reality for the nations of the earth.

A Strange Voice

John 10:5 “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”  

A stranger’s voice I will not follow was my decree this morning as the enemy spoke to me in a dream yesterday, it was a pleasant dream, but it was a dream in which the voice of a stranger was speaking and it took me all day to realize it. The voice of a stranger is not the voice of God henceforth, why Jesus said, about His sheep, a stranger’s voice they will not follow. It does not say we will not hear a stranger’s voice; it says we will not follow it.  

I heard the voice of a stranger in this dream, but did not realize it was a stranger’s voice until the day went on and that voice continued to seek to lead me down a path that would have taken me off of the path the Lord is leading me on. How do I know it was a stranger’s voice, because it eroded my peace, created in me negative emotions and assaulted the character and nature of God to me. It was seeking to get me to do in the flesh what God has said He will do by His spirit. A stranger’s voice I will not follow.  

The enemy wants to get us to follow a stranger’s voice, for a stranger’s voice will take us away from the voice of the good Shepherd, Jesus the Christ and His plan for our lives. The stranger’s voice will seek to inject its poison into our relationship with God and with others. The stranger’s voice wants to erode our fellowship with God and other people. A stranger’s voice I will not follow. We are all subject to the voice of a stranger, it comes subtly, stealthily and substantially. It sounds like a logical idea, in many ways it makes sense, but it is the voice of a stranger and we must learn to discern this voice and not follow it, for it will lead us to a place we never wanted to go.  

I hope my experience with the voice of the stranger yesterday, unlocks for you some understanding as to what may be happening to you and gives you tools on how to recognize and resist the voice of the stranger. A stranger’s voice we will not follow, for our God is faithful, our God is trustworthy and our God is the only voice we are going to follow!