Tag: Increase

Never Diminishing

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When I was a camp counselor in Park River, ND under the leadership of Rod Crystal Lundeen Quanbeck, we would have to make announcements to the campers and we had a way we said it, but it was always a call to hear announcements, announcements, announcements. I can hear that little tune in my head even now as I write this. It is amazing how some memories will be with us forever and pop up in the most unseemingly unusual times. I loved working at that camp, it was a summer I will never forget. I wonder if I am remembering this today, because my son leaves for his first summer camp this afternoon, oh the memories he will make just like I did as a counselor in that ever so remote city in North Dakota.

I said all that to say, the Bible releases announcements of good news every time we read it. Whether from a passage we have read over and over again or from some place we have not frequented as much. Today I was praying Psalm 23 and the Lord had me dig into the word want. So often we think we know what a word means, but there is depth in words, there are pathways in words, there are discoveries, treasures and truths in words that unlock us if we lean into them. Psalm 23:1 says, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” We know this verse, but do we know this verse. I didn’t until right now.

To not want in the Hebrew means, to not lack, to not decrease, to not diminish, to not be deprived, to not fail, to not make lower, to not have need. Oh my goodness, when the Lord is your Shepherd, the good Shepherd of John 10, when we make Him our Shepherd, we will not lack, fail, diminish, decrease. This is powerful, when the Lord is our Shepherd there is no fear of failing, falling back, diminishing. When the Lord is our Shepherd we continually increase, we win, we are ever ascending, this is such good news. We set goals and fail, because we want to be our own shepherd, so we go to conferences to learn how to be a better me, but the Bible says, all you need is a Shepherd. He will lead you and as you follow His voice you will not want!!! Being a sheep has incredible benefits if we are willing to let Jesus be our Shepherd. We get to be sheep, bah, bah, bah, bah and we shall not want.

Slaying the Octopus…Accessing Abundance

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It was only two days ago that the Lord revealed to me an octopus that is in the lives of His people. This octopus is one of the gatekeepers to abundance. Once the Lord slays the octopus in our lives, we will have access to abundance, but it begins with slaying the octopus and we cannot slay what we do not see. That is why Solomon is penned as saying, “For where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). What we can’t see, we can’t deal with, that is why God exposes in order to dispose. So, often we don’t want to hear the truth, see the truth or know the truth, for we tend to see it as a way to shame us, condemn us or somehow criticize us. However, the Father in heaven, is way to kind to do that, He only exposes things in our lives in order to dispose of them from our lives. He is so generous that He will expose anything that is hindering us from accessing abundance. This is why He is exposing the octopus.
 
On the news about a week ago, they showed a blue ringed octopus and said it is deadly to humans. I looked it up, as I was sensing some prophetic relevance to this, but did not have all the pieces to see the picture God was releasing to me. Then while reading in Matthew 13:18-23 about the explanation Jesus gave to the disciples in regards to the parable of the sower, the word octopus came into my spirit again. I was befuddled and decided to check out Google to see what are the characteristics of an octopus, for obviously God was seeking to expose something in order to dispose of it. Here is what I discovered about octopuses.
 
Octopuses are soft bodied, eight armed mollusks whose mouth is in the center point of the arms; the body can rapidly alter shape and can even squeeze through small gaps; they have excellent sight; are one of the most intelligent and behaviorally diverse invertebrates; they live in water, grow fast and mature quickly, but they are short lived; the males die after fertilizing the eggs of the female; the female dies right after the hatching of the fertilized eggs; they camouflage themselves and are described as sea monsters in mythology (Wikipedia).
 
With that being said, let’s tie the characteristics of the octopus into Matthew 13:22 “The one on whom seed was sown among thorns, this is the man who hears the word, understands the word, but the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth, choke the word and it becomes unfruitful” (NASB). The choker is the octopus, who has camouflaged itself as worry, that has snuck in through small gaps, that has its mouth in its arms, so the words spoken suffocate or strangle the word and it cannot produce fruit. The octopus is worry and it is choking the word in our lives and making us unfruitful.
 
But you may say, it says thorns and the octopus is a soft bodied sea monster. You are absolutely correct, thorns above ground are hard, but below ground they are soft for their roots which are below ground are what is choking the word in us. Jesus said in this parable, the word took root in the thorny soil, but it did not produce fruit, for it was being choked at the root level, for roots produce fruits. Now to take this one step further, this octopus the Lord is wanting to slay called worry is camouflaged and we often don’t recognize it, but it is there and it is linked to the spirit of mammon, who is another sea monster. That is why Jesus said, it is choked by worry of the world (the octopus) and the deceitfulness of riches (spirit of mammon). The Lord is seeking to slay the octopus in our lives, so that we can access abundance.
 
Abundance is the kingdom of God, abundance is Jesus, abundance is wisdom, truth, life, grace, hope, love, peace, joy, wealth, signs, wonders, miracles, it is abundant life in every way, abundance is Yahweh.

Abundance on Arrival

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Is it just me or do you sense something has shifted in the spirit toward a move of God like we have been praying for, believing for and hoping for? Many have tried to describe what they see coming. Bob Jones’ prophecy is lingering that a billion-soul harvest is near; others have said the death of Billy Graham will usher in a worldwide revival; Lance Wallnau and Johnny Enlow are declaring the taking over of the 7 mountains and still some are speaking of a financial windfall for the advancing of the kingdom of God on earth. Sometimes I think we hear what our heart beats for, our heart desires, our dreams that long to be seen and that is not wrong, it’s just our desire. So, what actually is coming that all of us can jump into and see on a macro level that will affect us on a micro level? I can only share what I am seeing in the spirit and what I am waiting for the manifestation of on the earth. I see abundance coming and upon its arrival it will release a repentance that only abundance can bring. Look at these two scriptures:

Isaiah 6:1-5 says, “I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”

Luke 5:4-8 “When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”  When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.  So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

When Isaiah saw the Lord as a victorious king, for the train of a kings robe is a statement about all the battles they have won, of which we know the Lord never loses a battle, so the train filled the temple, he had won a lot of battles. This vision of the goodness of God, the victories of God, the picture of God as victorious, didn’t bring pride or arrogance into Isaiah, it actually brought humility, repentance and a returning to the Lord God Almighty. The same thing happened to Peter, this professional fisherman, who worked all night and caught nothing, was not puffed up when the nets full of fish were breaking, he was actually humbled by the abundance on arrival.

What I see coming is an abundance of God’s goodness that is going to lead people to repentance not to arrogance. It is going to come with an abundance of healing, finances, reconciliation of relationships, return of prodigals and salvation of loved ones. God is going to shower us with an abundance of rain and upon its arrival, we are not going to rise up in pride, we are going to fall to our knees in worship. Weeping will proceed dancing, not out of sadness, out of being overwhelmed at how good He really is. We have a generation that believes God is mad, distance, untouchable and not interested in helping them, but God is about to show up and show out in a way that, like Isaiah and Peter is going to cause us to repent then rejoice because of the abundance.

Remember Paul said in Romans 2:4 “do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?” I believe abundance on arrival is going to bring us to our knees in worship like wrath, judgement and condemnation never could. Honestly, we all know we have fallen short of the glory of God, but how many of us know that He wants to pour out His abundance on us anyway? This unexpected, undeserved act of generosity from God is going to turn nations to the Name that is above all Names. Are you ready for abundance? It’s going to be bigger than you could ask or even begin to imagine.