Take them to prayer room. Read from John 13. Service. Selflessness. Footwashing each student. Pray over Bryce.
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•May 20, 2007 • 1 CommentA CUP OF SUFFERING AND JOY
~ by Heidi Baker
Iris Ministries
Iris Ministries, Inc.
Pemba, Mozambique
First published: Apr 05, 2007
Years ago I had a vision of Jesus surrounded by a multitude of children. Jesus looked at me with His intense, burning eyes of love, and I was completely undone. He told me to feed the children, and I began to cry out loud, “No! There are too many!”
He asked me to look into His eyes, and He said, “I died that there would always be enough.” Then He reached down and broke a piece of flesh out of His right side.
His eyes were so magnificently beautiful, yet His body so bruised and broken. He handed me a piece of His flesh, and as I took it and stretched my hand out to the first child, it became fresh bread!
I gave the bread to the children and they all ate. Then He put a simple poor man’s cup next to His side and filled it with blood and water. He told me it was a cup of suffering and joy, and asked me if I would drink it.
I drank it and then started to give it to the children. It became drink for them. Again He said, “I died that there would always be enough.” Since that day I have taken in every orphan child He put in front of me, and have asked my co-workers to do the same.
For the next ten years I learned a lot about provision for the poor. With delight I have watched God place bread in our hands for the children to eat. By His grace, every day there is somehow always enough food.
Since the vision Iris has gone from caring for 320 children to over 6,000. My heart is so full of praise and gratitude to God for how He has blessed us with all these beautiful children. I have stood in awe as God has grown us from a few churches to over six thousand in ten years’ time.
Jesus has given us fresh bread from heaven. We live to be in His glorious presence. He has poured out His love to us without measure. He has called us to bring the lost children home. I love him more than life! Every breath is for Him.
In the last few days I have learned more then I ever imagined about the cup of suffering and joy. Our nation Mozambique has been hammered with floods, cyclones and monster waves. Pemba, Cabo Delgado, was hit with cholera.
Finally a few kilometers from our Zimpeto children’s center in Maputo, a large ammunitions dump blew up, spraying mines, missiles and shrapnel for thirty kilometers around. Hundreds of people were killed. Houses were leveled leaving the victims crushed beneath the rubble. I have never seen such suffering as I have seen in the last thirty days.
As I stood in the ruins of a house leveled by a missile and held a weeping women in my arms, I drank of His cup of suffering. As I embraced Marcelina, 14, Edwardo, 15, and Carvalho, 12, orphaned by the blasts, I drank His cup of suffering.
After driving all day through the mud and potholes of Zambezia to minister and deliver food to a distant village devastated by floods, I rocked a tiny, starving baby in my arms and tried to find milk to no avail, and I drank the cup of His suffering.
After arriving in Caia, a town with a refugee camp on the flooded Zambezi River, I spoke to the director of a large non-governmental organization as he was evacuating his workers and helicopters because he could not get past all the corruption and red tape.
I drank of the cup of suffering knowing those very helicopters could have fed many precious people stranded in the flood zones starving for weeks. I opened my eyes wider still to see and drink the cup of suffering.
I also drank the cup of joy. God opened the door for us to provide food for fourteen refuge camps in Zambezia Province. I drank the cup of joy
watching my Mozambican son, Norberto, lead the relief effort for the province.
I drank the cup of joy seeing the faces of hopeless, desperate people run to meet King Jesus and thank Him for saving their lives.
Worship of our beautiful Savior reached heaven in Zimpeto when the children, co-workers and missionaries gave glory to God for sparing their lives as missiles and bombs flew in every direction above them and around them.
I listened to the testimonies of children who were rescued from the streets thanking Jesus for holding them in His arms as the terror of the blasts continued all around them. Pastor José spoke of the amazing opportunity God had given all of them to worship in the middle of the
frightening chaos.
Missionaries shared how they would gladly give up their lives to protect the children, and I drank the cup of joy. We offered a home in our center to Marcelina, Edwardo and Carvalho, and watched their tears turn into laughter.
God made a way to bring the children into families. Truly we are filled with inexpressible joy knowing we dwell in the shelter of the most High God. We rest in the shadow of the Almighty. He is our refuge and our fortress. We put out trust in Him.
He covers us in His wings of love and we find safety in Him. We have opened our hearts to Him and He is our dwelling place. He loves us, He
rescues us and commands His angels to surround us. We have called on Jesus. We have acknowledged Him.
Trouble has come to our nation, and we have opened our eyes and seen the pain. We have opened our ears to hear the cry of the desperate, and so we drink His cup of suffering.
We drink His cup of joy knowing we can be His hands extended in the midst of it all, and knowing He died that there would always be enough.
Love in Jesus, Heidi
***
Rolland and Heidi Baker
Iris Ministries, Inc.
PO Box 275
Pemba, Mozambique
Support contact:
***
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In this one-part teaching entitled THE WAR ANOINTING: SPIRITUAL VICTORY BEHIND ENEMY LINES Todd shares crucial strategies for fighting triumphantly in a spiritual war-strategies that will make you completely alert, strengthened, and equipped to win any battle that wages around you.
Not only will you discover how to defeat Satan’s schemes, but you will also learn how to be a skilled spiritual warrior: one who takes the spoils of war and plunders the enemy’s camp!
***
THE WAR ANOINTING:
(Spiritual Victory behind Enemy Lines)
~ by Revivalist Todd Bentley
“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” -Ephesians 6:12
While the world is at odds and leaders busy themselves with strategies to fight physical wars, it should come as no surprise to God’s people that we are engaged in a great spiritual battle.
From the early chapters of the Old Testament in the Garden of Eden, to the very last chapter of the New Testament, it is apparent that Satan is the enemy of God, and that he actively seeks to oppose God, His purposes, and His people.
Satan has ravaged the world for many centuries, and his appetite for power is growing steadily, as he seeks to deploy indirect methods to attack and destroy God’s people. Alarmingly, countless believers today are easy prey. Many are apathetic.
Some do not understand the devil’s schemes, his weapons, or his tactics, nor do they know of the weapons, plans, and blueprints God has provided for their defense.
Nevertheless, reality is that we’re in battle. We’re being prevailed against. Some of us are “losing” in the fight against sin and sickness, disease and death. Some of us are losing the battle for our kids to know Jesus.
Some of us are battling for our marriages. Some of us are battling against poverty, and the very things that hinder the fulfillment of the prophetic word in our lives. War wages for the fulfillment of our very divine destinies. The “one” we battle against is the very one that can keep a believer from achieving this goal.
As soon as we become blood-bought believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we’re thrust behind enemy lines, though assured of God’s protection.
However, we’re also reminded that we operate in an environment of spiritual terrorism:
“… We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19).
Thus, we must recognize and commit ourselves to train and be ready for battle, and even more so, in these last days, for unconventional spiritual warfare.
Whether you are a marine fighting in the streets of Baghdad, a parent living in a sleepy suburb, or even the President of the United States, you must assume your position as a mighty spiritual warrior similar to that of an ancient soldier defending an empire (see Ephesians 6:10-18).
We are at war. The closer we are to God, the more the enemy (Satan) wants to separate and weaken us. This war has raged for centuries. The prophet Daniel saw the war we would face today:
“I was watching, and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them” (Daniel 7:21).
This war is with the anti-Christ, or the anti-anointing spirit. We’re reminded in Daniel 10 about the Prince of Persia opposing Michael the
archangel for twenty-one days.
As the enemy opposed him, so the anti-anointing and anti-Christ spirits oppose our very destiny and inheritance in God.
A VISION OF GOD’S ARMY
The Lord gave me a vision of His army-the army of the Lord, mighty warriors glowing with His radiance. I believe this army represented the
body of Christ today, particularly in North America.
It’s an army, yes, an army that God has called. However, I don’t believe the army of the Lord that He showed me, was as He had called it to be.
I knew this battlefield spoke of the spiritual battle we wage with demonic powers and principalities.
I saw some mighty warriors wandering around in a daze, not knowing where they were. They groped about in the darkness as though unaware of their surroundings.
The Holy Spirit revealed that many of the warriors didn’t even realize they were in battle or treading in a combat zone.
Some believed there was no battle, and others did not believe they wrestled “not against flesh and blood, but against demonic powers and principalities.”
They were blind to spiritual warfare and to their adversary, the devil-oblivious to the enemy’s assignment on their lives. They were unaware that they’d even been drafted into God’s army!
However, whether they liked it (or believed it), or not, there was a battle and they were engaged in it.
In a second vision, I saw mighty warriors once again in the army of the Lord. They were children of light, girded in His armor. They shone with
the light of God’s glory and seemed completely at ease.
Some casually ate sandwiches while resting against logs and others just lazed on the grass and stared at the sky. Others fellowshipped with each other, yet all around them, an intense battle raged.
Weapons were within reach all over the place, I even saw weapons on the ground close to the warrior’s feet, but they ignored them.
The Holy Spirit revealed that this was the apathy of the army of the Lord. Then birds flew out of the heavens, and they relentlessly assaulted and
pecked at these casually laid-back and indifferent warriors.
The Bible says that the birds of the air come to snatch away the Word of God (see Luke 8:5-15). The birds of the air are the demons that snatch
away the Word from a man’s heart, but only because a man leaves it out there, unprotected.
The devil cannot take away the word from our hearts if we hold it close and protect it. Only if we care nothing about it, then indeed the enemy can snatch it from our hearts.
It seemed though, that these soldiers considered the birds to be more of a nuisance than a threat. They complained and murmured, but not one on
the battlefield reached for the Sword of the Spirit to battle or protect themselves.
The Lord spoke of the apathy of the army of the Lord (given the weapons of our warfare, given the reality of the armor of God, and given the victory through the shed blood of Jesus).
Apathy kept them from using the weapons provided by the Holy Spirit. We must be aware that we are on the front lines, because there is a
battle.
Whether or not we believe in hell, there is one. Whether or not we believe in demons, the reality is that the enemy is real, as is spiritual warfare.
We must wrestle against the demonic powers and principalities and take authority to bring them under our feet. Now is not the time for complacency.
We must motivate ourselves to use and wield the weapons at our disposal, and shed indifference or apathy. We must open our eyes to the seriousness of the threat of the enemy.
In truth, many automatically assume they’ve won, when in reality they are defeated.
WAKE UP!
GOD IS SAYING:
“Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your
plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’
Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather
together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD.” -Joel 3:9-11
Arise, take your plowshares, and wield them as swords. It is time to anoint the shield for the spiritual battle that is reality every day, for every day is a combat zone.
Our warfare is against real demonic powers and principalities, and a devil seeking to devour, kill, steal, and destroy. The Word of the Lord is to “be sober and alert.”
These soldiers in my vision were mighty men and yet they were unmindful of the war that raged around them. The Bible says it was “time to awaken them for they slept.” Even those warriors in the vision who couldn’t see the battle were mighty men.
God wants to awaken you for battle. It’s time to declare war, in Jesus’ name. Are you ready to join the ranks of God’s army? Wake up-arise! God
looks for mighty warriors as described in Joel 2:7-9:
“They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; every one marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push
one another; every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down.
They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief.”
Will you enlist, run, and climb the wall? The wall is intercession and God speaks to the wall’s watchmen:
“Take up My prophetic arrows.” All of God’s army, His saints, shall run and climb the wall. I believe God is releasing us into fervent prayer and intercession.
WIELD YOUR WEAPONS
Are you victorious in some areas, but not in others? Do you shrink back or lunge between the weapons? There are reasons why we aren’t overcoming certain battles-victories we should experience because of Jesus. We’re to be mighty men and women who lunge between weapons.
We are to engage in warfare and position ourselves in the front lines of the enemy’s camp, even though we know it’s going to cost us, and the battle will be fierce.
There is a particular mindset in the Body of Christ today that reasons, “If I don’t touch, chase, or confront the devil or demon, I won’t have to worry.” Saints are afraid to become involved in spiritual warfare or take on a demon or the devil.
We must take up the Sword of the Lord and fight the good fight of faith through the deployment of the weapons of our warfare that are readily
available.
We can’t lunge between weapons if we don’t pick them up. We can’t win the battles with weapons just laying there.
When was the last time you used the weapon of the power of the blood of Jesus, or wielded the power of Jesus’ name, employed fasting, and
prayer, or lifted your shield of faith?
Do you truly believe in them-in their power to overcome the enemy? If you’re not using them because you don’t understand them, then it’s important to learn what they’re for, and how to use them.
Seek a revelation of the power that is in the name of Jesus- the power of the Blood, the power of prayer and fasting, the power of the shield of faith, and then deploy them.
Often we forget what is available-but making these weapons a part of our lifestyle ensures that won’t happen.
Fast and pray, wield the name of Jesus and lift high your shield of faith in every circumstance.
The shield of faith is our truth and our buckler. It’s the truth of the Word of God, and it’s given to every believer to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one (see Ephesians 6:16). But it has to be used.
We are to be doers of God’s Word. When we act, the shield moves when we do, even if we don’t feel it. Is your shield moving or is it stationary?
What if you don’t have any words to act on? The enemy gets us in the back. Ingest the Word-feed on it regularly.
There are other pieces of armor that the Holy Ghost has given us that we forget to use, like the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, and the Sword of the Lord.
Sure, we put them on every morning but do we use them? We don’t have the Sword of the Spirit until we preach and proclaim what the Word of God says.
We don’t have the shield of faith until we walk in that faith. It’s time to take up the armor of God.
After all, we are mighty warriors! Our job is to lunge between the weapons. We are to not only climb the wall and intercede, but we are to run along it and become fervent in our intercessory warfare.
When we proclaim God’s Word instead of our feelings, circumstances, and symptoms, we are wielding the sword of the Spirit. Make this the year, the time, the moment that you take up the armor of God, wield the sword of the Lord, and fight to win.
O Lord. Train our hands for war! Give us the anointing of the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Let the Lion roar into the heavenlies and into our
spirits. Thank you Lord for the war anointing.
Thank you for drafting us into Your army. Thank you for the fresh revelation of the weapons of our warfare.
Thank you Lord, O Spirit of God, for training and equipping our hands not just for war, but also for the victory that we have in Jesus!
Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in the name of Jesus.
God is sounding the alarm and calling the army of God to stand at attention. It is a critical hour for the body of Christ to rise and lay hold of its inheritances. While very real wars rage on the earth, real war is raging in the heavens.
Make 2007 the year that you plead for spiritual victory in your households. Prepare for victory in your finances, in your health, in your ministry.
Ask for a harvest of souls and salvation, healing and deliverance. Look to Him for victory in your churches and your city.
Thank Him for causing you to triumph. Thank Him for releasing victory and war inside your spirit, that you and your loved ones might be
forever transformed through war, victory, and prophetic intercession.
THE BATTLE IS YOURS TO WIN.
***
As posted on:
“Another great prophetic teaching concerning the United States of America, with a vision and interpretation included, written by Rick Joyner of MorningStar Ministries.” ~ L.D.
“TWO ROADS TO THE FUTURE”
(Choosing the right road will take great courage)
~ Rick Joyner
“To be encouraged is to have courage, and it is going to take courage to take the right road and to walk on it.”
AN ENCOUNTER WITH LADY LIBERTY
I was carried into another realm where I found myself standing at a crossroads. Close to me, I saw the form of a person holding a dim light. As I approached, I recognized Lady Liberty, the Statue of Liberty, which was alive. She was confused and disoriented.With her feet barely moving forward, she was hesitant. Her light was dim, and her arms drooped so that she was about to drop the tablet she was holding loosely.
She was trying to choose one of the roads. She had just read the sign that warned those who came to this crossroads–that one path led to increasing weakness and ultimate destruction, and the other led to increasing strength and an even more brilliant future.
However, the signs did not tell which road was which. The sign also warned that if one stood at this crossroad long, a choice would be forced upon them, and it would be the wrong road.
So hesitating was not an option, but I knew the confusion and disorientation Lady Liberty was feeling would force the wrong road upon her.
I was compelled to encourage her so she would regain her decisiveness, but at the same time, I was looking for any clue that would indicate which was the right road. As I looked, I noticed very faint footsteps leading up to this crossroad.
As my eyes focused on them, I could see that these were the footprints of great nations or empires in history. They had obviously once stood right where we were.
All of these footprints led down the same road, which I knew was not the right one. It did not seem that any had yet passed this point on the right road–at least, I could not see any footprints on it.
As I looked at this road and then the other, I could see that the wrong road did seem much more inviting. It had warm streetlights leading to a curve that I could not see beyond. Because Lady Liberty’s light was so dim now, I knew this would be tempting as she could actually drop the heavy light to go that way.
As I looked at the other road, it looked as difficult and uninviting as the wrong road looked easy and inviting. It was very dark, rocky, narrow, and climbed steeply to a crest which I could not see beyond.
It would be nearly impossible to choose this road without being in a state of great encouragement and confidence, not the depressed state which Lady Liberty was now in.
As I looked at her, it was obvious that her confidence and resolve were eroding even further. She would never choose the right road if she did not regain her vision, confidence, and resolve quickly.
It was a hard road, and just about the only light on it for a time would have to be the light you carried yourself, which would make the climb even more difficult. However, it was the only choice that was not certain doom. I was driven by this to try to convey to Lady Liberty that enduring hardship was essential if she was to live.
As I looked at Lady Liberty, I knew that she could drop the torch at any moment. She had to have help very fast. Without that torch, she would have no choice but to choose the wrong road where there was at least some light initially.
I stepped over next to her and gently, but firmly, took her arm and started to lift it back up. As the light was lifted back up, it was like it received more oxygen and immediately became brighter. This was an obvious revelation to her, and her countenance began to change slightly.
I then asked her to grip the tablet, telling her she must not drop it. She responded as if she did not realize that she was about to drop it, and she gripped it.
Even so, she did not yet have the will or strength to bring it back up to her side. However, I could tell that just taking the resolve not to drop the tablet helped to dispel more of the confusion.
Even these seemingly small steps to regain her resolve and purpose had a great effect. I knew action and decisiveness were critical to her recovery.
I began to encourage her with all that she had done in the past just to get to this point, and told her that her future could be even greater. She could go further than any nation or empire had ever gone before.
As I talked, her countenance began to brighten even more. I knew, as well as holding her arm up, I needed to speak to her of her future–she desperately needed vision.
There was yet hope that she would take the right road, but there was not much time. I felt that at any moment the wrong choice would be forced upon her if she did not move forward to take the right road.
INTERPRETATION
Lady Liberty was obviously the United States. She is at a critical crossroads, which will determine if she has an even brighter future than her past, or whether she will begin to weaken and fail.
She will not make the right decision or choose the right road unless she is strengthened and encouraged to make decisions proactively. Vision and decisiveness are her oxygen, and without it, she will expire.
To be encouraged is to have courage, and it is going to take courage to take the right road and to walk on it, but it is the only path with a future.
I felt that I represented the Church in this vision. I needed to undergird her arm, which will be done with prayer and intercession, just as when Aaron and Hur held up Moses’ arms while Israel battled Amalek (see Exodus 17).
I also had to prophesy to her, encouraging her with visions of her potential future. She had to choose a hard and lonely road, but she had the light, the light of liberty, which would enable her to do it. The higher she lifted up the light of liberty, the more brightly her path would be lit.
The depression she felt was dispelled when she regained her resolve not to drop the tablet. This was the mandate of God to hold to the Word of God. This mandate had dropped lower and lower, until she was just about to let go of it altogether.
In the vision, I only saw her grip it enough not to drop it completely, but I knew she had to raise it up to her side again to make it up the steep incline she was facing if she chose the right road.
The Bible only addresses depression one time. God’s remedy for depression seems too simple, but it works and is the only thing that will work. His easy remedy cuts off depression at its roots. That is why it is only addressed once; there is nothing more to be said about it. This is found in Genesis 4:6-7:
“Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.’”
Of course, the Lord warned Cain of this just before he slew his brother. Every person has been given a conscience that tells them right from wrong. To violate it is an open door for depression, which leads to anger and ultimately conflict with others.
Nations that give themselves over to evil will become angry nations, which will lead to conflict and war. There are righteous wars, but most are unrighteous, and are motivated by either jealousy or anger, just as this first conflict between brothers. Had Cain heeded God’s warning, this would not have happened.
Depression is the result of sin, which is not doing what we know to be right. Regardless of how much we may try to kill or disregard our conscience, it cannot be violated without opening ourselves to depression.
The depressed, who do not repent and turn to God, will usually turn against Him, and then others, and will turn to anything that will give them at least temporary relief for the depression.
In our generation, drugs have become the source of temporary relief most people seek. Drugs can work, temporarily, but only while opening the door wider for increased depression, which requires more drugs.
The longer this cycle continues, the more that vision, purpose, and resolve are confused, deluded, and eroded. What will often fill the void are illusions of grandeur that are out of touch with reality, which the devil imparts to bring further humiliation and conflict.
In contrast to this, we are told in Romans 14:17, “…for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
The kingdom of satan would have you pursue this in reverse, compelling you to seek joy with the delusion that it will lead to peace in your life, but it will only lead to more confusion and more depression.
True peace and true joy can only begin with righteousness, which is doing what is right. If we will seek to do what is right, it will lead to a peace that the world cannot even understand, which will lead to a joy far above anything that this world can offer. The peace and joy of the Kingdom is not quick, but it is deep, lasting, and based on reality.
The fact that this vision ended without a road being chosen means that it has not yet been determined which road she will take. The most important thing now is to help her regain her strength, vision, and resolve so that she will be able to see the paths and the choices more clearly. As she lifts the light of liberty higher, she will be able to see further and others will also come to the light.
APPLICATION
“America has been a discipled nation, and has been taught, raised, and built on the principles of the Word of God.”
The United States is not the Kingdom of God, and it is not indispensable to the purposes of God. Many believe that she has a special covenant with God, but many do not believe she does.
This is based on the belief that, Biblically, the Lord is only obligated to keep covenants which He initiates, and in Scripture He only has a covenant with two nations–Israel and the Holy Nation, the Church.Whether you believe America has a special covenant with God or not is not crucial for us to be the light and salt that we are called to be to our country, and to want to see our nation align itself with the purposes of God.
At the very least, America was dedicated to God by its first colonists and the founding fathers who formed the nation, and the things dedicated to the Lord are holy and will be destroyed before being allowed to be profaned.
Because America was dedicated to the Lord, it cannot get away with what some other nations may be able to get away with. Severe discipline from the Lord will come upon America for things that may not be nearly as bad as what other nations are doing. This should be an encouragement to us that the Lord has not given up on us, as we are told in Hebrews 12:7-13:
“It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His Holiness.
All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.”
The Lord will discipline America with increasing severity, not to condemn, but to save. Intercession and repentance can reduce the severity of these judgments, but reducing the severity should not be our only goal, rather repentance that will lift the discipline altogether.
The two paths before America are either another Great Awakening or a great destruction. The Church is called to be both salt and light to our nation. We must rise up with resolve to be these.
I Peter 4:17 states, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God….” We are also told that if we judge ourselves He will not have to judge us (see I Corinthians 11:31).
We do need to clean up the Church, but we do not have time to wait for the Church to become perfect before we can be used or we would never be used.
The Church in America is in very much the same state as the Lady Liberty I saw. If we will rise to our purpose and recover our resolve to stand for the Word of God and His purposes without compromise, we will find the strength to lift our light higher and to help our nation lift her light higher.
The immediate, desperate need is for us to help lift her arm with our intercession. Then we must begin to prophesy to her about her future as I did in this vision.
America’s future really can be far greater than her history, and she has had a brilliant history. True prophetic purpose will always be rooted in a basic commitment to honor the fathers and mothers, or history.
We need to prophesy the potential future while honoring the significant exploits and contributions of great Americans in our history.
Not all of the history is good, but just as even the greatest heroes of the faith in Scripture had flaws and made mistakes, we must remember the extraordinary exploits of all who built this nation.
We also need to honor the other nations who were our fathers and mothers. For America, this basically includes every other nation on earth. We are a nation truly composed of those from all nations.
Every race and culture which has helped to build America is worthy of honor and respect. If America is to rise to greater heights, it will not be by tearing down other nations, but rather helping to lift them up.
The Great Commission is to make disciples, not just converts, and it is to make disciples of all nations, not just individuals. America has been a discipled nation, and has been taught, raised, and built on the principles of the Word of God.
That is the tablet which must not be dropped, but raised up again to be at her side, giving her the strength and resolve to uphold the light she has been given–the light of liberty, to proclaim freedom to the captives.
Freedom is essential for true worship. That is why the Lord put the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden. It was not to cause them to stumble, but there could be no true obedience unless there was the freedom to disobey. This is why we are told in II Corinthians 3:17, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
America now has the freedom to choose which road she will take. The Church in America also has the freedom to help her, or do nothing. If we do nothing, we will share her fate. If we help her, we will share in the fruit of what she can yet accomplish to help prepare the earth for the coming Kingdom of God.
To help her we must first cast off our own confusion and disorientation, the result of letting the Word of God slip lower and lower, and loosening our own grip on it.
We must return to the Scriptures, seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness–the only path to true peace and joy, which is only found in His Kingdom, His domain, where He is obeyed.
~ Rick Joyner
MorningStar Ministries
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•May 15, 2007 • Leave a Comment
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Birthday
The Lord told me today is my birthday. I’ll have to research and see when I came to the Lord, but March 19, 1999, eight years ago sounds about right.
Anniversary
Yesterday was March 18th. Yesterday in 1925 was the worst tornado that has been recorded in US history. I had a dream saying that after the F5 comes I could move and I looked to my left off a street in San Francisco and I could see the blackness approaching. I have never heard of this tornado before doing research this morning. The “Tri-State,” which is the name of the tornado of ‘25, was a double barrel tornado and was not visable as it approached. Most peoples were caught anawares. You can read a quick synopsys here. This wiki over view is here, and a Paducah, KY review is here. The worst damage was in southern Illinois, where I currently reside.
What does it mean?
I confess I have no idea what this means. What does it mean Lord? What are you showing me. What am I to look at? What am I to see? What do you see? What is it?
12 Tribes
Under Joseph lies two tribes. Ephraim and Manessah. What is the prophetic declaration of the end times that rises up from the story of the life of Joseph and the interaction of his brothers. If Ephraim and Manessah include the gentile branch that will be grafted back into the root what do they hold for the famine ahead of us. What will it look like when Judah comes before the gentiles in Holy Spirit power and doesn’t recognize her as family. And what happens when we hear the Jewish love of the father; so precious. What happens when in tears, our identity is revealed and Isreals’ eyes opened. Tell the father His child yet lives. His robe of many colors, many nations, yet lives.
box 503
503. aleph, aw-laf; denom. from 505; caus. to make a thousandfold: –to bring forth thousands (1x)
505. eleph, eh-lef; prop. the same as 504; hence a thousand: –thousand (500x)
504. eleph, eh-lef; from 502; a family; also (from the sense of yoking or taming) an ox or cow. Cattle signifies 1. the domesticated animial or the herd animal: oxen, sheep, goats, cows (Deut 7:13); 2. thousand (Gen 20:16); 3. group (Num 1:16); 4. leaders of a large group (Gen 36:15). Syn: 1241, 6510.
502. alaph, aw-laf; a primary root, to associate with; hence, to learn (and causative to teach): teach, learn, utter.
Hollywood Set
Looking through a window at a city. Very crowded, construction going on. Just building faces though, like a Hollywood set. I thought “how do they get all that wood in here?” Then I saw it. At night they moved the wood in. They had in tied in careless heaps on the end of ropes. 2 x 4’s falling out. The trucks going so fast the wood flying through the air behind the vehicles hitting the buildings, flying out. Boards carelessly stacked in the back of trucks. Everything was moving so fast. One building was on fire. It was a real building. Brick? Burning. Firetrucks flying through the city. Other trucks carrying wood don’t even consider them, fly right by, in between them. Firetrucks gather around building and attempt to put it out. Everything is in double time. Really clear with the flames and firetruck entrance.
Interpretation: The church’s identity is a farse. The buildings are being built but they are false and will not stand. There is no foundation. The wood being brought in are the people. Churches are built by people, even false ones. They are being horded in for construction; expansion. Careless. Being tossed. The one real building is on fire. The real body is being burned right now. Refined. Only where fire has gone and purified does water come. The firetrucks are in reality not carrying fire, they’re carring water. The Spirit. The spirit comes in holiness and follows the flame. Water and Fire move together like lightening in the midst of rain. The Lord is hastening time. This is especially clear with the process of refinement in his people and the movement of the holy spirit in their midst.
•February 19, 2007 • Leave a Comment
House of Aaron
2 Chronicles 23:18
Then Jehoiada placed the oversight of the temple of the LORD in the hands of the priests, who were Levites, to whom David had made assignments in the temple, to present the burnt offerings of the LORD as written in the Law of Moses, with rejoicing and singing, as David had ordered.
1 Chronicles 23:13
The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart, he and his descendants forever, to consecrate the most holy things, to offer sacrifices before the LORD, to minister before him and to pronounce blessings in his name forever.
1 Chronicles 23:28
The duty of the Levites was to help Aaron’s descendants in the service of the temple of the LORD : to be in charge of the courtyards, the side rooms, the purification of all sacred things and the performance of other duties at the house of God.
Leviticus 16:17
No one is to be in the Tent of Meeting from the time Aaron goes in to make atonement in the Most Holy Place until he comes out, having made atonement for himself, his household and the whole community of Israel.
Nehemiah 10:38
A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury.
physical manifestation of a spiritual reality
•February 16, 2007 • Leave a CommentI often wondered about the encompassing colon epidemic in our group a while back. Lord what is this? What wisdom is to be had with intestinal blockage? Expand my ability to receive revelation by your spirit.
I put it on the shelf for awhile. I was on merriamwebster.com the other day asking god what words I could look up and the first one he gave me was colyc. At least that’s how it sounded. So it brought up Colic: an attack of acute abdominal pain localized in a hollow organ and often caused by spasm, obstruction, or twisting.
This repondering only made sense in light of some recent revelation our team has been eating. It relates to repentance. Repentance involves a changing to the new; and that assumes a dispelling of the old.
Lord is there not a sufficient enough bulky substance to remove waste from you body? There is so much waste that is backed up in your system that was supposed to be emptied out a long time ago. There is pain and discomfort in your body because of it and not enought water, not enough spirit. Dyhdration of the body has caused this blockage to occur.
Christ’s body is eating to much of the world’s pleasure foods and comfort foods that are filled with fat and no substance and it is hindering the bodies ability to digest the word. Christ, the bread of heaven, is not being digested properly.
Continue reading ‘physical manifestation of a spiritual reality’
dreme
•February 14, 2007 • Leave a Commenta father running towards shore to save his life in swelling water. While thinking of himself first, he left behind him are his three children. The baby drowns screaming where he left him. The little one struggles, strains, and dies as well. The third is weary, doesn’t look good, but has more of a chance. The father makes it to safety and saves no one but himself.
The heavenly father commends all his dear children that lay down thier lives for the sake of another. It is the highest way of His kingdom.
No one has a greater love than one who lays down his life for his friends [life].
I have called you friends.
The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.
Go and do likewise.
The Son can only do what he sees the Father is doing.
When you have done this, say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.”
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.
Jon 15:13, Jon 15:15, Jon 10:11, Jon 5:19, Luk 10:37, Luk 17:10, 1 Jon 4:20
establishing a kingdom…all in a days work
•February 14, 2007 • Leave a Comment“Watch, I am making all things new.” Rev 21:5
P-I-O-N-E-E-R
1 : a member of a military unit usually of construction engineers
2 a : a person or group that originates or helps open up a new line of thought or activity or a new method or technical development b : one of the first to settle in a territory
3 : a plant or animal capable of establishing itself in a bare, barren, or open area and initiating an ecological cycle (BEGINNING A CYCLE OF LIFE)
the end.
“You are old and advanced in years, and there remains yet very much land to possess”
Joshua 13:1
its only the beginning…
“Today I have rolled away the reproach of the Egypt from you.” Joshua 5:9 “I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” Joshua 5:14 “The place where your standing is holy.” Joshua 5:15
living and learning in inheriting
“Get up! Why have you fallen on your face? Israel has sinned; they have stolen devoted things and lied. Therefore the people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. I will be with you no more unless you destroy the devoted things from among you. Get up! Consecrate the people for judgement.” Joshua 7:10
sneek attack; infiltration
“Joshua sent out the fighting men of valor by night saying, ‘Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. All of you remain ready. We shall rise up and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand. And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set it on fire’.” Joshua 8:8
Continue reading ‘establishing a kingdom…all in a days work’
newness is like sweet nectar
•February 14, 2007 • Leave a CommentTrue repentance is the key of a promise that causes my heart to soar.
Anthromorphism
Human-morph
Morph:
intransitive verb: to undergo transformation; especially : to undergo transformation from an image of one object into that of another
transitive verb: to change the form or character of : transform
Welcome to the boardgame called Promise on Earth. Here’s how you play. Each person gets handed an unlimited currency called “Repentance.” You have a little person and you start on the square called “Image of God”. Beware of the “Deceiver” that can slow down your movement, cause you to take steps back, or could even eliminate you from the game. You spend “Repentance” as you move about “The Earth”. The point of the game to the get to the square called “Character of God.” And then you’ve arrived at the “KINGDOM OF GOD ON EARTH” and You Win! Wanna play?
Be transformed. Paul. You must be born again. Jesus. Repent for the kingdom is near. John. Be renewed in the spirit of your minds. Paul
Jesus. Fully God. Fully Man. In him the whole fullness of deity dwells in bodily.
The church will be an equally-yoked bride with Jesus.
aye. there is yet more…
it takes a lot of fire to make a lukewarm bath hot again
•February 13, 2007 • 1 CommentThere is so much fire that will be coming. Only because there is so much fire needed.
The covenant of Abraham is as the sand of the earth. The floor of heaven is clear like glass. Only fire qualifies us to build the kingdom.
As the temperature of the proclaimed gospel decreased, so the speed of the molecules that composed the church slowed.
THE LAW IS THE DOOR TO GUILT. GUILT IS THE QUALIFIER FOR REPENTANCE. REPENTANCE IS THE DOOR TO HIS KINGDOM. HOLINESS IS THE DOOR TO HIS DWELLING PLACE.
Repentance is the garment of a true disciple. The word is the living judge of our life. Transformation is the eternal promise of his kingdom. The promise of morphing from human likeness, to the very nature of God. That my friend is GOOD NEWS. God has made the way for us to carry his very nature; a marriage to the continual renewal of repentance.
No Judge. No Savior.
No Law. No Salvation.
Roms 3:20 through the law comes knowledge of sin
2 Cor 7:10 For Godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret
Jer 15:6 God grew weary of insincere repentance. Strongs, “The stress of nacham(5162 Hebrew) is not upon new information or new facts which cause the change as it is upon the visable action taken.” A confession of repentance without change is no more than a lie. A lie to comfort ones own soul from guilt.
(3340 Greek) “The three steps found in metanoeo is a) new knowledge b) regret for previous course, displeasure with self c) a change of action.
(3341 greek) “the word ‘repentance’ seems to mean, not simply a change of Isaac’s mind, but such a change as would reverse the effects of his own previous state of mind.” Nicodemus. “this change of mind involves both a turning from sin and a turning to God.” Prodigal Son.
your kingdom come 