Lisa Great

I was leading a group on Sunday morning around a long table and we were discussing memories we have sitting at tables. During this discussion, a 20 something young lady spoke up about her generation and how they are hungry for authentic Christianity. She said, we can smell a phony and we don’t want religion, the hunger is real, but the food must be authentic not packaged, processed or full of preservatives. I smiled as I listened to her, because I do not know anyone that would honestly say they want anything but the authentic, yet we have learned to settle for something else because it seems like there are so few authentic options out there.

I have been thinking about this young ladies comments all week long and then as I am reading John 14 today I realized the challenge we have as people who call themselves Christians is that we do not love God. I know we say it with our words, but love is not words, love is obedience. When we say we love someone we do what we say and we do what they ask. People know when they are truly loved and God knows if we truly love Him.

John 14 says, “If anyone loves me (Jesus), he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.” In our culture this can sound harsh, but it is not harsh it is truth. We can say we love God, love Jesus, but if we are not keeping His word, doing what He says, we cannot honestly say we love Him. The Bible is not bending to our culture, our culture has to bend to the Bible if we say we love Him.

There is a generation that is not going to fall into our religious say one thing do another culture. They can see through our words to our actions and they aren’t buying it. If we were honest, when we were there age we weren’t either. Where are the people who will love God not just expect to know God loves them? Friends, loving God is easy, it is fun, it is exciting, it is the greatest decision I ever made. There is abundance in loving God, there is life, there is hope, there is peace, there is joy. Try loving God by doing what He says in His word, I promise it will be the best decision you ever made and a generation will follow your lead.

The Bible is a book of historical events for us, but reality events for those who experienced them. When you are in the middle of experiencing something that will be historical for another you see it differently. We are in the middle of a God event of the likes we have never seen or heard before in our lifetime, it is can seem unbelievable because we are in the middle of it.

Israel lived 430 years in Egypt, multiple generations only knew Egypt, but during one of those generations, Moses was born, raised and went before Pharoh and they did not know what was happening. They were making bricks and Moses was having a showdown with Pharoh. It was not until the people of Israel were told to put blood on their doorpost so the angel of death could Passover that they even knew something was happening. Then they went through the Red Sea and still weren’t fully aware of what was happening. They were living the history we are reading.

Friends, I sense in the spirit a Moses figure has been dealing with the Pharoh of our generation and we are about to have a Passover event of the likes we do not see coming. A Red Sea moment of the likes we would not believe if we were told it. We are living, experiencing something that will be read about by many generations in the future. We are living it, so we can’t fully see it.

Proverbs 28:28 says, “When the wicked arise, men hide themselves; But when they perish, the righteous increase.” I see wickedness being removed and righteousness being established in a way that will astonish us. Yet the Bible tells us of the increase of His (Jesus) kingdom there will be no end. We are about to see increase after increase after increase of righteousness on earth and it will be written about for future generations to never forget.

Words are an understood form of communication. Written words, spoken words, pictures in words, songs are words, words are everywhere. Because we are so inundated with words, we use words as our main form of communication. We type words, we speak words, we hand write words, we pray in words, oh the power of words. I personally love words. However, I am learning there is a language that speaks louder than words and it is our face.

Proverbs 27:19 says “As in water face reflects face, So a man’s heart reveals the man.” As people we reveal what is in our heart by what is on our face. Sadness is seen on the face; bitterness is seen on the face; disappointment is seen on the face; joy is seen on the face; peace is seen on the face; anger is seen on the face. I have been realizing money cannot hide what the face says; makeup cannot cover up what the face says; a mask cannot conceal what the face says.

I was at a Pumpkin Festival yesterday and there was a man in a Batman costume, he looked so amazing from a distance, but the closer I got to his face, the more I saw the wear and tear of life on his face, just from the nose down. It was amazing to me as the Lord has been having me look at people’s faces. We love Facebook, we love selfies, we love showing our face, or others don’t like showing their face at least not on social media. However, the point is our face is communicating how we are doing on a heart level.

Next time you look in the mirror, look at your face and listen to what it is saying, for you face can tell you what is going on with your heart that you may not be able to hear. If you don’t like what you see on your face, cry out for the Lord to create in you a clean heart and to renew a right spirit within you. For the Lord loves to communicate through words, this is why we have a Bible, but He also communicates through the face, that is why He says, seek my face!!!! This is why I look at your face when I speak to you, I want to see your heart and I want you to see mine. It’s called face to face communication.

Do you have a promise from God that has not come to pass? Those promises can be hard to hang on to for a long time, for disappointment fatigue sets in and tells us it will never come to pass. If we think waiting is hard when it comes to something God has said, imagine this…

Two sisters, Mary and Martha, have a brother who is sick and they tell Jesus. Jesus responds and says, “This illness does not lead to death.” (John 11:4) Hope comes whenever Jesus speaks. The two sisters believe Jesus that this sickness will not lead to death, but guess what, Lazarus died. Jesus told His disciples in John 11:14 “Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died.” What do you do with this? Jesus said the sickness will not lead to death and the dude is dead.

Talk about a trial of your faith. Jesus Himself said that Lazarus’ sickness would not lead to death, but the guy is dead. When Jesus arrives to the village where they are John 11 says, “Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.” The guy is dead, dead, but Jesus said this sickness would not lead to death. What do you do with this?

Some of us have a word from God that something is going to happen and yet that which God told you would not die has died. This is a hard place to be in. The voice of the enemy is loud in times like this, all the assaults on God’s character comes when a prayer is not answered; a promise looks like it is not kept. But friends, God is not a man that He should lie (Leviticus 23:19). I know it is hard, I know you believed and haven’t seen yet, I know you heard clearly but now you are starting to give up hope. But we are dealing with God not man.

Martha understands how you feel, she confronted Jesus and told Him, you said, but now He’s dead. She was hurt, mad, confused, she understands how you feel. But it is God we are dealing with here. Friends, God does not lie to us, that is why we can trust Him. I know what it looks like, but I am telling you if God said it, no matter what it looks like He is going to do what He promised. Don’t give up on God, you are going to see the glory of God in the land of living, just you watch. Just ask Mary and Martha.

The heart is the central command center of every human being. We are called to guard our heart for out of it all the issues of life flow – Solomon. We are also told that out of the abundance of our heart the mouth speaks – Jesus. The heart is where dreams come alive, where love is experienced, where pain is felt and where memories are stored. Everyone of us has a heart, many are broken, shattered, beaten down and broken’ others are closed, shut down, and walled off; but there are some that are soft, pliable, open, trusting, believing, and alive. Where is your heart today?

When we live life out of our head it is a defense mechanism so we do not get our heart broken again. The challenge is, intellecual, heady conversations do not penetrate people the way a heart does. A person with a big heart is called generous, passionate and joyful. Much of Christianity has been done from head to head; denomination to denomination; doctrine to doctrine; but Jesus Christ the author and perfector of our faith was a man of heart. He encountered the “heady” Pharisees and Saduccees, but He never stopped operating from His heart no matter who He encountered.

Do you know why blind people got healed, dead people were raised, lepers were cleansed and lame men walked? Because heady people walked right past them, but Jesus the heart God/man saw them, heard them and loved them. Jesus spoke to them from His heart and the heart of His Father and healed them. The heart is a powerful tool to bring healing to hurting, wounded, sick, bruised and battered people. Heads argue while hearts heal. If you meet a hurting/distant/angry person today, don’t go head to head with them, win them with your heart. Proverbs 25:15 says, “A soft tongue will break a bone.” Your heart has power to heal another persons heart, no matter how hard their heart may be.

We live in a generation of people who have said a prayer but don’t know the Lord. They go to conferences, they attend revivals, they get baptized in water, they go to church, but they do not know the Lord. How can a whole generation of people, do all the right things and not know the One they are doing all the things for?

While in Charlotte, NC earlier this month, we went to the Billy Graham Evangelistic Headquarters. It was a powerful experience and I will never forget what I read, saw and heard while I was there. The thousands upon thousands of people who said a prayer with that man cannot be underestimated. Then I see on Facebook and Instagram, the crusades men and women are doing, baptisms that are happening on college campuses and mega churches with thousands of people sitting in the auditorium or stadium. Yet when finances get tight, when government acts funny or when a bad report is heard people act and talk like they don’t know God.

Friends, this is not how it is supposed to be, but I don’t blame anyone for this, other than to say, we have expected people to believe in a God they don’t know and we call it faith. We expect people to believe by faith but when they don’t see it come to pass, there is no establishing of the faith. Faith is wind, spirit, word, manifestation of what we have heard is how we know God is who He says He is and can do what He said He can do.

Ezekiel 37 says, “You shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.” God doesn’t expect us to only hear and never experience. Our God is not all talk no action. He knows words and manifestation are what establishes the knowing that He is God. We are about to see what God has said and people are going to know He is God and when they do, everything will change!!!!! Manifestation will establish what we have heard.

A before sunrise morning on one of the highest places in Franklin, TN at the office of Iris International, Heidi Baker’s ministry. We went to a meeting called Hour of Power with Barbara Jeter and the Nashville House of Prayer. It was a combination of location and voices that made this morning one I will not forget. From opening worship to the closing words of Will Hart the CEO of Iris Global, the presence of God was identifiable. 

I have been on top of this hill to this house before, my friend Sharon, knows the woman who built it with her husband. The internal walls have over 100 scriptures written in them, the brick pillars that anchor the gate at the entrance has Matthew 28:18 etched in them. The 360 degree view of our city is beyond words to describe and the gathering of the Esthers and Mordecai’s in that room was purely enjoyable. 

Everytime I am on this land the dreamer in me opens up wider than in any other place I stand. Whether it is the unobstructed view or the presence of God on the property, or a combination of both, I love coming here for it takes me beyond my natural thinking to dreaming dreams so much bigger than me. Today was no different. As we sang Shout to the Lord, it brought me back to dreams I was given by the Lord when I was first saved. When I walked the outer perimeter of the land, I lifted my hands and declared dreams only God knows I have. What a morning. 

I pray you lift up your eyes, for everyone is going from apathy to awakening to ambassadors. I am not sure where you are today, but shackles are coming off feet, scales are coming off eyes, and dreams are becoming decrees. And as Will said to Billy Gaines, you were on a tour bus, then you found yourself on a school bus, but God is putting you on tour again, but this time you are going international. Welcome to Beyond, there is no place I would rather be, you all and me. 

What has been will not be again, we have entered into brand new days and brand new ways. Looking to the past for what is upon us will cause us to miss what God is doing among us. We must lean into love if we are going to see what God is doing right now. The days of the law are over, the days of love are here. The days of one foot in the old and one foot in the new have given way for me and you to enter in with both feet.

In the past Babylon and its system was only cut down, “I saw in the visions of my head as I lay in bed, and behold, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven. He proclaimed aloud and said thus: ‘Chop down the tree and lop off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. But leave the stump of its roots in the earth, bound with a band of iron and bronze, amid the tender grass of the field.” (Daniel 4) In this new day, the system called Babylon is being uprooted and cast away. This is the new way says, Yahweh.

The days of things circling back to us are over, the days of kissing things goodbye, burning our ships on the shore, putting our hand to the plow and not looking back are here. The madness of the matrix is broken, the doorway to the new beginnings is here. This is not a coming soon, this is present and active reality. The hinderance is not around us, the hinderance is within us. Our belief systems is about to change significantly.

Just like going from rotary phones to smart phones, we are getting an upgrade of the likes we will love so much we will never go back to land lines or decieved minds. New teachers are rising, because new lessons need to be learned. New leaders are rising because new ground is being taken. We are truly going from glory to glory and the story we are telling is unfolding in real time and it was blow our mind. Welcome to all things are new.

John 2 tells a story of a wedding happening that Jesus, His disciples and His mom were invited to. While at the wedding, Jesus’ mom heard a rumor that they had run out of wine. Mary then turns to Jesus and says, you can do something about this; she then turns to the servants and says, do whatever He tells you to do.

While reading this story last week the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, people have run out of things. Some have run out of patience waiting for the promise; others have run out of money to pay their bills; others have run out of tears to cry over that relationship; some have run out of opportunities to advance in their career; still others have run out of options to deal with their physical ailments. I do not know what you have run out of, but I do know that when we run out, that feeling of running out comes with shame. The enemy capitalizes on our running out.

I am here to deliver to you some good news, Jesus says to tell you, “THE WAITERS ARE COMING!” John 2 says, “Jesus came to the servers and instructed them, Fill the pots with water, right up to the very brim. Then he said, Now fill your pitchers and take them to the master of ceremonies.
And when they poured out their pitchers for the master of ceremonies to sample, the water had become wine! When he tasted the water that had become wine, the master of ceremonies was impressed with its quality.”

The waiters are coming with pitchers filled with what you have run out of, but they are not coming with just any resource, they are coming with quality resources in order to make sure you are not ashamed. Help is on the way my friends, you are not going to be embarrassed by this situation that has run out. Fear not, the Lord says to tell you, “THE WAITERS ARE COMING!!!!”

There is one word in scripture that people do not like to hear and that is judgment. We fear what we do not understand. Judgment is not condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, it is recompense, it is restitution, it is deliverance. The very word we fear is the very word we need. We need God to render a judgment on behalf of the saints.

I was praying with Psalm 50 this morning and it says, “Here he comes to judge his people! He summons his court with heaven and earth as his jury, saying, Gather all my devoted lovers, my godly ones whose hearts are one with me— those who have entered into my holy covenant by sacrifices upon the altar. And the heavens declare his justice: God himself will be their judge, and he will judge them with righteousness!”

Courtroom scenes in scripture are more common than most of us realize, because we serve a God of justice and He is Judge of the whole earth. The challenge is we view the Judge as one who will cause us harm rather than help us. Jesus shares a story of an unjust judge who did not render a correct verdict for a widow in Luke 18. Our God loves justice and He sits as judge in order to render a verdict on our behalf.

As I prayed Psalm 50 the presence of God wafted into the room and overwhelmed me as I said, “Judge me, O God!” First I was afraid of what that would mean, but as I sat in His presence, the fear turned to favor as the presence of God rendered a judgment on my behalf. His gavel hit the judges bench with a verdict that liberates, exonerates and penetrates everything inside of me.

Friends, the Judge is for you not against you, but you must stand before His bench and in authenticity ask Him to judge you. You will be overwhelmed and probably surprised by what the Judge decrees. But you won’t know Him as Judge who is for you until you stand in front of Him as Judge of you. Enter His courtroom, there are cases He wants to try but you must be present to hear the verdict.