Our local TBN affiliate station here in Houston devoted a special two hour program to prayer for our city, nation and world in light of the Littleton massacre and National Day of Prayer. I was invited to go down as a prayer warrior and did. The theme STILL IS 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If My people who are called by My Name shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My Face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin and HEAL THEIR LAND."
I remember praying this years ago and thinking, "It's going to happen soon. This massive revival, this move of the Spirit, it's going to happen soon." And while for some there have been moves of God, there is nothing like I have expected to see.
True, it may not be like I expect, but there is still something I know to be the trademark of God, the personalized encryption that lets me know it is HIM. See, I am believing for greater than what I have already seen and I have not seen that yet.
I am looking for that CHANGE that comes to people, where the Presence of God is so real, you can feel Him in the building before a word is ever spoken or a song is ever song. I am looking for that Presence where the Lord takes over the service and people wonder what to do because His Presence is so manifest that all you want to do is wait before Him in silence and bow down and worship Him. Miracles, visions, sign and wonders, will also accompany that.
Now I do that in my personal prayer life. I know how to worship (by His Grace) and enter into Him. I have arranged my life so that I can take those opportunities, sometimes at what would seem a sacrifice but how much will a dying man or woman pay for water if they have none? I need Him. "Miracles" are not the way of life; knowing how to live is.
I have these experiences in God where the personal revelation comes raining down on my soil, and I know that I know that I know some things. When others don't believe, I do, and I can keep on believing because I know that Voice. And it has not failed me yet.
When there is so much prophecy, and it doesn't come to pass, I grieve over the deception. For those young in prophecy, there is no condemnation, but for those who play with it, who prophesy out of their own imaginations and foolish hearts and do so repeatedly without making THEMSELVES accountable for their words, I grieve.
It becomes divination, competing with the psychics and soothsayers, seeking to make profit off of "destiny." That is a total lack of fear of the Lord. I've seen ministers who say, "Give to God and you will get rich," and so people give because they want to get rich and apparently the one telling them has money, because he/she is spending theirs! They brag about their incomes and things, and while I know God is not opposed to incomes and things, I do know that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but some are now wiser than Job.
OK, maybe they are, but how many demons can they rebuke? And can they withstand the prince of demons? Then if another minister is trying to do a real work of God and asks for money, they are accused of being charlatans. Those too will answer to God. I know some sick, some afflicted, some widows and widowers, and "virtual" orphans. I know some hungry for the real word of God.
I don't consider myself an old timer but I have been around the prophetic move long enough to see many take advantage of truth. I know that I myself have imposed on the good graces of others, like my parents for example.
But God has a discipline, and even though many parents are well meaning, if they do not find God's discipline, they can be defeated in their cause. We need the Wisdom of God that comes from His good Spirit. We can apply the Word, but if it is only the letter, it can kill. If it's not applied at all, that can also kill. We must find His good Spirit, and I don't know about you, but I am still learning it.
One of my favorite Scriptures has been that God is no respector of persons; He does not show favoritism. I have wrestled with that one, because sometimes it seemed that He does! But who is right? Him or me? God will grant wisdom to the foolish to confound the wise. He will used the base things of life to shame the well to do.
God is not opposed to "well to do." I used to think that. I used to think that God liked poverty or to qualify, I had to become poor. When we ask to give up all to follow Him, so often He will allow us to go through just that because He knows what an investment of the soul that is made through that.
But just as difficult as that can be, there is also the test of prosperity. It is just as serious. I have been distracted by having too much. And the Scriptures say that He will give us so much that it is full to overflowing with not enough room to contain it.
And we say, "Bring it on!" until we can't find Him anymore. Then somehow, hopefully, we wake up and say, "Did I miss the path somewhere?" It may be finances, it may be ministry position, it may be anything. Where is that sweet song in the night where the fellowship is?
You will then come to realize that there is a balance in the walk. It's good to want things that make you productive. Poverty is not a blessing, if it limits what you would like to do and even limits your walk with God. Then it's a curse.
So when we pray for Revival, what are we praying for??? When I was poor, it was prosperity; when I was lonely, it was fellowship; when I was friendless, it was friends; when I was purposeless, it was a cause. And when I was without knowledge, it was knowledge. Knowing the truth made me free, and I saw that I could be more and more free! But free to do what?
What made me alive? That's what I wanted and still do!
But in the blessing is the test, and I learned that I could be deceived. (I saw that men could be too, so it's not just a woman thing. Saw that first hand.) I also learned that I could be led away of my own lusts.
Ah! After all these years, I find I am still crying out like the Apostle Paul, "Oh wretched one that I am, who will save me?!!" It's already been done by Christ (or the Anointed) Jesus, so I must learn how to walk in it. I need wisdom. Don't we all?
So now when I see the lost and dying and hurting, I no longer see a campaign. It's no longer just about a rally. It's about living a productive life. In my city, you often see beggars on the road. Now they hold up signs saying "God bless you," like they are prounouncing a benediction on you! But it's the same people on the street, year after year, and they OBVIOUSLY have been to the missions here in Houston, but are these missions being effective?
What is going to draw people into the Church? Is it not Life? And that Life can take on many forms. The "I AM" is what you need (not what you want) Him to be.
Sometimes I am under discipline to make me live. I don't always like it. Who does, right? But for me, quality relationships mean a lot more to me than the abundance of things. Now things are nice, and I am glad the world is rich in things, but I'll give up a lot of that for Jesus. I've given up all before, and if discipline leads that way, it may happen again, but wisdom is not about loss but gain, if you read the Scriptures clearly.
The accusing words of the enemy will come fast and furious no matter what you try to do. You must know how to have your Spiritual guard up continually to hold onto your faith. After walking this awhile, as I mentioned earlier, what I find valuable is "faith friends."
Now there are a lot of "faith talkers," or confessors, if you will, but I am talking about real faith friends who can see the vision and hold to it with you. There are a lot of prophesiers, and even "advisors" but not a lot of faith-ers, or people willing to take on the battle with you.
Most faith people I have discovered come in the realm of the family of God to me. They are willing to sacrifice something for me. We can't do everything together, but you find some are willing to do what they can. And these are the people that Satan wants to knock off.
The people who try, the people who give, the people who care, the ones moved to action by their good motives - the enemy is after these - because that love can change things. That love can changes lives and then the world.
There is a love that is going to break forth in the earth, but it will be by equipped people. And when it arises, it will not be stopped. In the meantime, we have to hold on and birth those babies - big or small, old or young, weak or so strong you don't know what to do with them, but birth them none the less.
Churches need to be family OF GOD oriented. Home families do not have all the children going at the same pace. Some are younger, some are older and there is sad to say, sibling rivalry and uncertain people.
Cliques are the worst thing that can happen to a church or ministry group. When cliques form, traditions set in that will need to be overthrown. Otherwise, they can cause people to backslide and ultimately perish. They start because the programs or ministers are not challenging enough. This is where the foolishness of God is wiser than men.
Now sometimes that minister is right, and you are not where you are supposed to be!
Many in the prophetic struggle to fit in. My advice is to always tell them, work to fit in. You may have to sacrifice your gift for a season, but you are gaining wisdom and passing tests, and friends will listen to you more than strangers. So many think the prophetic is about the dramatic, but how dramatic was Jesus, the Chief Prophet and our Example?
When you are hurting, who do you want -- a stranger or a family member? The gifts in you should bind up the wounds of others. And there are many types which is why we need the whole Body.
You may be fine today, but what about tomorrow? You may be wiser than Job today, but in the pit tomorrow. You may build bigger barns to hold your wealth, but your soul may also be required.
Are you ready?
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Posted on Trumpet Wind Ministries Prophetic Email List - 5/3/99
