Lisa Great

I love the church, I love its history, I love its current reality and I love its mystery. The church is the agent of God on earth and there have been times it has been hidden, there are times it has been harvested. All seasons of this beautiful body called the church have produced fruit for us to taste and see that the Lord is good.

While sitting with my friend Kari yesterday, we talked about what the Lord is saying to us through this ice storm. She shared how as the trees bowed under the weight of the ice, so the church is in a time of bowing before the Lord of heaven and earth. We shared how we see this bowing in creation is manifesting in God’s people and it is beautiful.

I have been hearing the Lord speak about this ice storm in the realm of access. I have friends in the country region of Tennessee and in the heart of the city, both are without power, but neither is without money. No matter how much money my friends have they do not have access to power, so they are living off alternative forms of energy, due to lack of access.

I have thought about this a lot this week, how you cannot buy access no matter how much money you have. In 1 Thessalonians 1, the apostle Paul says “Our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers.”

I believe this lack of access is revealing to us as the church that we have had money, but we have not accessed power. But I see this changing and changing quickly. We may have learned to cope without access to power in the past, but the Lord is declaring, “ACCESS RECOVERED!” The Lord is recovering our access to power.

The next season of the church is going to be one of the gospel of the kingdom being preached with a demonstration of power recovered. Get ready for the two fold reality of preaching and power happening all over the body of Christ worldwide. ACCESS has been RECOVERED! Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

The other day the Lord spoke to me and said, “It’s going to get bumpy, hang on!” This is not something you want to hear, this is something that has to be weighed, is it personal, communal, national or international. So, I have sat on it for a couple days, and then this morning the phrase rose in my spirit, “I sit as a queen.” (Revelation 18:7)

Babylon is prophetic code language for any system of self-sufficiency that believes it is permanent and is oppressive in nature. This is a biblical pattern not just one city. Egypt could be called Babylon biblically, so could Nineveh, Assyria, Rome, Persia, Greece, not just one city, but rather a patter of control.

Therefore, when the Lord sends a messenger (angel) from heaven to declare in Revelation 18, “Fallen, fallen, Babylon is fallen! It is an announcement of judgment on a system of control not one certain city at one certain time in history. Which is why we declare, announce again in our day, falling, falling, Babylon is falling.

Understanding this is about a system that is being judged and not individuals helps us recognize God is on a rescue mission not a destruction rampage. Henceforth, why the Lord says, “Come out of her, my people,’ so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.”

The question is how do we come out of her? We repent of believing the Babylonian narrative and we embrace the narrative of the kingdom of God. Babylonian control is a narrative, which is why we are pulled into every news story, divided by politics, destroyed by religion, and are emotionally exhausted, but can’t sit still when iced in.

The call of God today is the same as it was then, Come out of her my people, by repenting for the kingdom of God is at hand. Change the way you think, because falling, falling, Babylon is falling. It is going to get bumpy my friends, hang onto truth, for we have an unshakable kingdom. The counterfeit queen is coming down. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Wisdom does not come by saying a prayer, wisdom comes by remaining teachable. Proverbs says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but Proverbs also says, humility is the fear of the Lord. Which means if there is no humility there is no fear of the Lord, and with no fear of the Lord there is no starting place for wisdom.

When we do not have wisdom around us, we think what we know, what we believe, what we hear is the only narrative and we are right. People love what they believe, because it makes them feel safe. People surround themselves with others that agree with what they say, in order for them to remain safe. Anyone that questions what they believe is not safe, so they retreat in fear and then call the one who asked questions, the issue.

Truth is not afraid of being questioned. Truth does not shrink back from questions. Truth stands in every storm. Lies are like fireworks they shoot into the sky, cause everyone to look, then disappear until the next firework arises.

Wisdom is gaining ground in the earth realm and as it does, like in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, it is going to stand up and command attention. Daniel 1 says, “The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s service. In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.”

These 4 Jewish men, spent three years learning the customs and cultures of Babylon and when they were tested on what they learned, wisdom proved itself in the court of Babylon in front of the magicians and enchanters. Wisdom, humility, the fear of the Lord, won the day then and will win the day today.

Watch for wisdom is still crying out in the streets and more and more we are hearing her voice, for she is humility not pride, so she is being exalted while others are being humbled. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Have you ever wondered why Christians are good news averse? It is like we are suspicious of anything good happening. I have wondered why this is. I have searched my own history to understand where the change happened in me, for I used to be more comfortable with doom and gloom, anger and suspicion, rather than love and light.

What I have learned is that when the Lord healed me in places I was deeply wounded, it shifted my narrative from survival to life, from fear to love. 1 John says, “Perfect love casts out all fear.” Once I embraced the love of God, it cast out all the fear that was keeping me in self-protection and survival mode.

Once perfect love is accepted, religion has no power over you, politics does not move you, other people’s opinions or decisions does not control you. Perfect love is humbling, because it heals in a way you did not know you were wounded. Wounds actually color perception more than anything else does and healing, wholeness, love, restores original design and gives us clear sight.

Jesus said in Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus is not just a say a prayer and be saved savior, He is a come to me and let me heal you body, soul and spirit savior. He is compassionate, gentle, and corrects us up. He never leaves us, forsakes us, denies us, or ignores us. He is for us and not against us.

As we come into the presence of God, He heals deep seated wounds that hinder our ability to see the kingdom of God that is at hand. He opens our eyes to all the good news happening. He removes the walls of self-protection and dresses us in a love that cannot be denied. Jesus commanded us to love God and love people, and we need to be loved so we can love. Love changes everything. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

With the televised confession of the Bethel Senior Leadership team, and the subsequent letter that was sent out, the responses are sharply divided. The concern I have is that we as people are revealing our hearts by our response to their hearts confession.

As I watched the service at 10:30am yesterday online, I heard the Lord say as Kris and Bill publicly confessed their sins, mistakes and leadership mishaps, I heard the Lord say, “This is what it looks like when fathers weep”. This morning I read what Jeremiah Johnson put out, which was of weeping willows with harps dream on Discernment Drive.

Now this morning, the verses that came up in my spirit as I was thinking about this public confession and repentance from leaders in the church who have a global reach. The verse I heard was Luke 18:9-14.

“To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people; robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Whether they are your personal leaders or not, they are leaders in the church globally. Their music and messages have altered the narrative of the church and their repentance is reverberating in the atmosphere of the body of Christ. Our response to the sound of repentance and fathers weeping reveals a lot about our hearts. Listen to what you are saying and thinking as you listen to what they are repenting of. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I walked out the door first thing this morning to take out the dog, and a sheet of ice was on my steps. We did not leave the entryway of the front door. So, onto the backyard we went. Out the patio door onto the deck, where the soft gentle rain was falling on our winter coats, the warmer than expected air made the coat feel unnecessary. The soft snow cracked with the light ice on top as we went out into the yard.

I have been praying for a heat dome over our area, saying snow to enjoy not ice to destroy. The warm air and the light rain made me smile as I pictured a heat dome over our area. But what surprised me the most was the differnce between the front and backyard. One set of steps I could not even consider walking on and the others left footprints in the snow.

This morning I have been reading the prophet Hosea and in chapter 10 verse 12 it says, “Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.”

I love this verse because it is a partnership between us and God. We are invited to break up the uplowed ground, and He will shower us with righteousness. Showers falling on hard ground do not penetrate the soil. But a prepared ground can receive the showers as they fall.

To make this practical, I believe the Lord is inviting us to break up some old deeply rooted thinking patterns that we think have been the truth and have felt safe, but have actually been doctrines of men that have kept us from the revelation of Jesus Christ.

When it starts to rain, hard ground is going to have rain run off, but broken up ground is going to receive the rain. We get to decide what kind of ground we are going to be and the rain will reveal it. Bring on the plow! Let it rain!!!! Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Can you hear the new sound rising in the land? A sound of peace, a sound of inheritance, a sound of good news for all nations? The Bible says let those who have ears hear what the spirit is saying to the church. Not what people are saying, what the spirit is saying. The spirit is saying, it is a new day, there is a new sound, there are new orators of old truths.

Israel is a people, a land and a history we are to learn from. One of their battles was worshipping other gods. Most Christians do not think they are doing this, just like Israel, so have we lived with mixture.

God invited Israel into the wilderness and He did the same for many in the body of Christ. The wilderness was hard, lonely, transforming and challenging in ways we cannot describe. But just like Israel we needed the wilderness to transform us forever.

Hosea 1 describes what happens to us in the wilderness. “I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. In that day,” declares the LORD, you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.’”

The wilderness radically changes our relationship with God from my master to my husband. It goes from transactional to relational. From distant to personal. We leave religion in the wilderness and we gain a love we cannot deny. Once you go through the wilderness you will never be the same again, which is why those who go through the wilderness inherit the promised land.

Friends, there are voices rising out of the wilderness, not declaring prepare the way of the Lord, but rather be reconciled to God; be baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire. The voices rising are carrying an inheritance of good news. Can you hear the sound? Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

The first message Jesus preached was “Repent, for the kingdom of God is here, the kingdom of God is at hand.” (Matthew 4:17)

Jesus was not declaring to a sexually immoral, adulterous, drunk nation they need to repent of some behavior, He was speaking to a religious nation, law-bound, Sabbath serving people, repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent of what? Repent of the way they were thinking.

They thought their salvation would come through following all the rules, obeying all the commands, doing all the things religion told them to do. They also thought the Messiah was coming as a conquering king wanting to take over Rome. Repent, change the way you think, what you have been told or taught is now the way of my kingdom.

Jesus is speaking the same words to the church today. Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Change the way you think, what you have been taught about the rapture, salvation is about heaven, and saying a prayer is all that is needed is not the way of the kingdom of God.

Things are not getting worst, peace is not to be feared, war is not the way of the kingdom of God, and the antichrist is not a person. Repent, change the way you think, the kingdom of God is at hand.

Hosea 1:7 says, “I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the LORD their God, will save them.” Zechariah 4:6 says, ““This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, He is not coming to destroy, He is here to build the kingdom of earth as a it is in heaven, through us His church. Do not fear peace deals, rejoice in them, for this is how God wins war, peacefully. The kingdom of God is at hand and if you can’t see it, you need to repent, change the way you think. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

Friends if prayer does not give way to manifestation, then prayer becomes the goal, not answers. Prayer is not the goal, prayer is the vehicle that leads to the goal, called manifestation or answers to prayer. If prayer is the goal, then we become people who pray but never see, look for, or expect an answer to the prayers God has asked us to pray.

Prayer becomes religious when prayer is the goal. We have made prayer the goal in many ways, for some believe they are spiritual because they pray all night, or pray, pray, pray. We must be people of prayer, but prayer is about communing with God, not staying up all night making requests continually.

Why do I bring this up? Because Intercessors are exhausted. Watchmen are weary. This does not mean we stop praying, but when prayer is all we do, it becomes religious, rather than relational.

In Acts 12 it says, “Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” The prayers of the church set Peter free from prison, but the ones praying were not expecting Peter to be released, so why were they praying?

Prayer must become manifestation or prayer become religious. God doesn’t answer prayer because of how long we pray, but because our hearts are joined to His in agreement. Jesus said, I only do what I see my Father doing. The prayers of Jesus were about thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Acts 12 goes on to say, “Peter went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.”

Peter is out of jail, prayers answered, but manifestation not expected. “Rhoda came to answer. When she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying, “It is his angel.”

Friends, we must pray for our nation, our leaders, our churches, our families, yes, yes, yes and yes again. But prayer is not for prayers sake, it is for bringing heaven to earth and God is not answering because we are laboring, He is answering because of love. Prayer is relational and it must manifest, it is not duty. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org

I love how the word of God equips us for battles we will face long before we ever face them. We are taught by the apostle Paul that our weapons are not carnal, but they are mighty. We have been taught that the word of God is a sword, this is a weapon. We know prayer is a weapon as we seek the Lord for strategy and share our concerns with Him.

Other weapons include praise, worship and praise are powerful weapons. Fasting is a weapon we employ to tear down strongholds. Community is a weapon, because we were not meant to do life alone. Oh the many and varied weapons God has given us as believers in Jesus Christ.

But what are we fighting? We are fighting the lure of a system of selfishness that seeks to get us to self-protect, self-promote, become a self-made man. The battle we fight with the world is not people, it is the war with selfishness. Outside of Christ is a self-ruling, self-governing, all about self system.

Jesus called us to die to ourselves, because we are no longer citizens of the world, but of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is a community and to do life with others effectively you cannot be selfish.

As I was reading Proverbs 19 this morning, another weapon in our war against selfishness arose in the word of God that I had not considered a weapon, but realize is a very powerful weapon. “The fear of the LORD leads to life; then one rests content, untouched by trouble.” (v. 23)

Contentment is a weapon we have been given in this war against selfishness. If we are content, we are satisfied with our portion, the lot God has given us. There is not comparison or competition when you are content. Contentment is a weapon God has given us as believers and we need to sharpen this weapon or add this weapon to our arsenal for it will keep us untouched by trouble. Www.apostolicresourcecenter.org