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Let's Put our Money Where our Mouth is

Let’s Put our Money Where our Mouth is, Eli Part 2

by Bruce Hehl

Let’s Put our Money Where our Mouth is. Here is part 1.

From time to time the Lord ask questions, usually simple questions. Simple questions that have, for us, complicated answers, such as, “Adam, where are you?, ” “Who told you you were naked?” and a biggie, “Cain, where’s your brother?”

During this current crisis I believe the Lord is asking us a question–once again a simple question with a complicated answer (or maybe not!) “Son of man(us), can these bones live?” So now let’s put our money where our mouth is. Of course they can. Because you can do ALL THINGS though Christ Jesus!

The Hurricane

Back in the late nineties my family as well as the city we lived in were put to that test. A hurricane was headed towards our location. So as not to allow panic and fear to set in. My brother and I decided to test our faith rather than succumb to the circumstances. Being young (and a bit naive and/or stupid) we decided to put this scenario to the test. We parked ourselves outside in our most comfortable lawn chairs and began to speak to the elements in the atmosphere and rebuke the winds.

I was just off of a vision quest I had encountered with the Lord and was ready. We began to prophecy to the city and declare safety and deliverance for ourselves and neighborhood in the Name of Jesus.

For several hours we endured sideways rain and winds gusting over 70 miles an hour. Every few minutes moving our chairs back into position, as the wind was literally moving and scooting us about. We stood against that storm in warrior fashion.

Stand Firm

Paul tell us in Ephesians, “having done all to stand. Stand firm!” In the Greek, the word stand means to be placed, as a chess piece is placed on a chess board. The Lord placed us in that city. Though we no longer live there, at the time it was where we were supposed to be.

My brother calls this our Metron. Sphere of influence. It paid off. As far as I know, there was no loss of life and only a few injuries. There was however a loss of electricity everywhere in the city except the power grid that pertained to our neighborhood was knocked out!

I mean we were the only ones in an area of close to a million people with power. Our area included several cities, the Hampton roads area. Our faith was put to test. The only time we did lose power was when the substation was turned off in order to restore or reboot power to the entire city. We were only offline for 30 minutes or so.

Faith Must be Tested!

Now we live during another crisis where the entire world’s faith is put to test. It’s time for us to quit complaining and finding fault with government, mega churches, and mega ministries and stand in agreement. JUST DO IT! As they say.

I came across a post a couple of days ago who were railing against preachers whom we call, “of the name it/claim it variety.” My thoughts were, SHUT UP! They pray using the very same Name we pray to.

Let’s Put our Money Where our Mouth is

This is an opportunity to put our money where our mouth is. Let us focus on what we do have in common, Jesus! At least they are doing something that promotes deliverance instead of grumbling or complaining as many do.

The Lord hates factions, kids. We are being shaken. This is the Father’s doing. He didn’t create the virus we did. We loosed this upon the world when we chose sin over life in the beginning. So, are we going to make a stand and choose life or just succumb to the circumstances?

LET’S STATION OURSELVES and stand for our Metron. Stand for our children, our families, our friends, our sphere of Influence. What Thom and I did many years ago may appear stupid and probably was, but we decided enough is enough.

You are Not Alone

When you stand in this hour you are not alone. Millions around the world are standing next to you and near you! Any weakness in our faith is strengthened by the fact that, “One can put a thousand to flight, two, ten thousand, and three?” Enough said. Let faith arise.

If you are waiting to fly out of here at any moment, you might want to put that nonsense aside. The Lord didn’t remove Noah. He allowed him to build an ark for safety, although after a couple of weeks of ark life it does require removal of waste, dung, poop, or whatever euphemism you might use. Keep the ark of your heart and mind clear and cleaned out before it begins to stink. Stink is unbelief. Faith requires muscle memory and exercise.

“Son of man. Can these bones live?” Yes, they can. Our job is not to reason why. Our job is to prophecy! Prophecy to these dead dry bones that has become the current Body of Christ and its condition. We stink, kids! I realize I might seem at bit humorous or arrogant but I’m really not. I am serious…We can’t breath life into these bones but He can. You stand in faith and declare and let Him and only Him Breath into our situation.

The word spirit in both the Hebrew and the Greek means wind or breath. The Holy Spirit is His Breath giving us mouth to mouth resuscitation. “AND HE BREATHED UPON ADAM AND HE BECAME A LIVING BEING!” In The book of Revelation it says, “They overcame by the Blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.” And later again, “The spirit of Prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ. And He Shall Reign for ever and Ever! Amen.”

True Faith

True Faith, Eli Part 1

by Bruce Hehl

True Faith

We seem to be in an episode of the Twilight Zone as of late. Lots of panic in the atmosphere. So, what are we to do?

Faith is the opposite of fear. We are told by Jesus in the scriptures never to fear. Why? Because He alone holds the keys to death, hell, and the grave. The book of Revelation also tells us, “He holds the seven stars in His Right Hand.” The seven stars being the seven winds, breath, or spirits in His Right Hand!

In Old Testament lore, the right hand is the place of authority. I like to think of it as this. “Those He forenew, He also predestined to be conformed in His Image.” We are of the Image of Jesus. We are earthly men such as He was. We are also called to do the same work as He. If we are created in His Image does it not suppose He can keep us in times of distress or trouble?

The scriptures are full of scenarios such as the one we face today. During the time of Moses while the plagues were being wrought upon Egypt because of rebellion, not a dog barked in the camp of Israel.

God has a plan! He has always had a plan. Nothing catches Him off guard, ever!

He is saying to us, He has yours, mine, and the destiny of the world safely in His Hands. Is there a force in nature or of this world that can pry your destiny from His Hand? No!

Does this mean none will die? Of course not. What it means is His Plan will follow His course and end in His timing.

We should not be afraid, but trust in His plan. People have been living and dying since the beginning of time but the ship is still on course so that victory wins.

It doesn’t matter what realm we find ourselves living or working in. Jesus is Lord. He also destroyed the fear of death. We need true faith to really understand and walk this out.

True Faith

True faith reaches its zenith when facing death. Some of us have already faced this. When you do, it comes alive within you. Life! Real Life that only He can give by His powerful sovereign grace and mercy.

Let us meditate upon these things instead of a pandemic of FEAR! “There is no fear in His Perfect Love.” Paul tells us, when tongues are stilled, knowledge fails, and prophecy ceases…..then and only then will we really understand God’s great love for us.

So, bring it on. I flow in prophetic ministry. I have for 40 years. Shut me up and bring on your unfailing love for me and all of us.

Is this so difficult? Let go of gifting and focus on the big picture. One of the things taking place now is the bringing down of the mega churches who really only focus on themselves and building bigger platforms for themselves.

In 2007 the Lord gave me a vision. I saw two major ministries standing on the street corner alone. They had a tin cup in their hands and were asking for money. People gave them no mind and continued to walk past them, as they were saying, “don’t you know who I am and what great work I’ve done for God?”

I didn’t really understand it completely then but I am seeing it in an entirely new light now. I am not judging the Lord knows. It could be me. I sing pretty good. I play piano pretty well, but, the Lord has seen fit to keep me hidden all these years. That system would have corrupted me too, except by the grace of God!

People see this as a time to renew families and renew marriages. A time to break bread around The Lord’s Table, not some man made concept of it. Paul says, that why you sleep. You fail to discern the Body! He’s not talking about Himself but one another!

So, time to wake up and focus on what remains. FAITH, HOPE, and LOVE! And the greatest! LOVE.

On to part 2.

Individual Puzzles

Individual Puzzles

By Patti Wasmuth

Individual Puzzles

I know this is a very difficult season for all of us learning to maneuver through our “new normal.” We all recognize, that this is “new territory” for us and no one really knows what tomorrow brings.

It is like Joshua learning to listen to the Lord’s careful instruction, as he was told, “you have not been this way before.” (Joshua 3:4) However, we should walk in confidence, because we do know the One who holds All our tomorrows in His hands. We know He is faithful and trustworthy in ALL His ways.

A while ago, I had a dream, and in the first part of the dream I was in a huge room facing a 20-foot wall.  As I looked up, I saw a huge puzzle on the wall.  It started from the top near the ceiling and filled almost the entire wall I was facing. There were lots of people working diligently to complete the picture.

In the next part of the dream, I saw several people individually working on smaller individual puzzles (about the size of a normal 500-piece puzzle). I knew each puzzle was unique; some were almost finished, and others I observed only had part of their “picture” puzzle completed. As some of the people completed their puzzles, suddenly they realized, their unique “puzzle” fit into the “larger” one I had seen in the previous scene. It was a revelation that caused them to look beyond themselves. Soon excitement grew as they began to move toward the “bigger” picture and they began to see where they “fit” in the “bigger” plans.

Individual Puzzles

I then watched the first person, carefully slip a thin paper under his puzzle, he was being very cautious not to lose any of his work…he then carefully started to move it toward the larger puzzle knowing it would fit perfectly in place when he got his completed puzzle pieces transported to the larger picture puzzle…

It would fit perfectly in place when he got his completed puzzle…

The next person I observed, was not quite as careful, and when he started to slide the pieces of his puzzle, it broke apart. He quickly realized he did not want to lose his work, so he grabbed the lid of the puzzle box, and then strategically slide the large “chunks” of his completed puzzle into the box lid.  He did this several times layering the chunks of his completed puzzle, recognizing when he got to the “big” picture puzzle; all he had to do was carefully slide them out and reconnect the pieces.

The third person I observed began to quickly gather his puzzle and as he did the pieces buckled under the sudden pressure of movement. Instead of slowing down and reassembling the pieces, he continued to move quickly. He became impatient and frustrated as the completed puzzle crumbled into pieces in his hand.

Anger and great frustration, overtook him. He didn’t think it should take this long or be so hard.  Then he began to throw the pieces in to the box, he turned and walked away. He began to grumble about how tired he was, and how he was done trying to complete this. Then he declared, “I am not about to sit around and reassemble everything again, even in light of the big picture!”

The Chess Master

In the next part of the dream, I saw a man delightedly sitting in what seemed to be a major strategic planning center… There were TV screens filling the entire room. The screens lined each wall from the top of the wall to the very bottom. Each individual TV screen projected different types of information from all over the world.

A man was sitting near an almost holographic three-dimensional chess game.  It was almost five feet tall, and there were several levels he was “playing” at the same time.  He had a jubilant smile on his face and would strategically move a piece on one level. He would look all around the room, and then almost giggle with delight. Then suddenly with a serious look, he would move a piece on another level of the chess board. Sometimes he would take extra time to contemplate his next move; looking at the monitors to make sure his plan was carefully calculated.

At first, I didn’t recognize the man. I was just observing his actions, as he continued to make very strategic plans and calculated moves. Then suddenly he turned around…. And, I knew it was Jesus…

I heard Him say, “I have not lost control of anything!

He continued, “I am making strategic moves for the next season, keep focused on the big picture and you will see how your individual puzzle pieces fit. Do not get discouraged and throw away all you have been working on.

How Individual Puzzles Fit Together

Seek Me and strategically let Me help you transition you to the next season, and soon you will better understand how things fit together…

What you are looking at in front of you is not the complete picture…”

Then I saw a huge group of people… the auditorium was a 3/4 circle facing a very large platform.  All of a sudden, people started coming out of their seats from various parts of the auditorium…There were no particular “types” of people, there were men, women, children, and people of ALL races and nationalities. People of every socioeconomic background and every span of education.

Suddenly I heard a click, and the arm then locked in place with the person beside them…

Each person moving toward the platform, had a very serious determined look on their faces.  As they moved forward, it was with great resolve. NOTHING was going to stop them no matter what. Each person kept looking forward as they moved toward the front of the altar area. As they came closer to the person beside them that person slightly raised their arm, and immediately I saw a locking mechanism in their arm. As they received the arm beside them, suddenly I heard a click, and the arm then locked in place with the person beside them. This continued to happen as each arm was raised, first the right arm and then the left…until there was a human wall. 

There was no space between them, as they stood shoulder-to-shoulder, arms locked in place.  They were Mighty Warriors with determination to MOVE forward no matter what.   

Together they became a massive wall MOVING FORWARD… plowing down anything in its path…It was with the sense of the scripture…the kingdom of God, suffers violence… and the VIOLENT TAKE IT BY FORCE…. they were ruthless with the enemy…

They were moving forward for God’s kingdom as one mighty tool… unashamedly, powerfully, and with no personal agenda, and no gap in the wall… following only the instructions of their Master…

Working Together

As we sit in quarantine, let us complete our “individual” puzzles, recognizing that you were born for such a time as this! You do “fit” in the “bigger picture.” Don’t get discouraged in well doing.  You will reap if you “faint not.”  Don’t let this time be filled with frustration or discouragement.  Instead, rise up, MIGHTY Man of God, rise up MIGHTY Woman of God. Link arms and become “one MIGHTY tool” in His hand.

Alone as we war, we may seem like a small and insignificant dowel rod, but together we can be a Battering Ram against the ploys of the enemy. The heart of our nation is at risk along with our religious freedom. Let God arise and let the enemy be scattered. God is with us, and He has NOT lost control of anything; however, we are in a season where we must focus on the bigger picture and His purpose for this season. Seek Him and He will show you where you fit in the bigger picture.

True Faith

A Finished Work

A Finished Work

In my opinion we have received a finished work because of the completeness of Jesus through the Cross! Even Peter mentions in his letter, “That we have been given all things that pertain to life and Godliness.” Revelation 21 says, “I will give you a new heaven and a new earth,” which is a quote from Isaiah.

And the knockout punch comes when John the Baptist and Jesus say, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Meaning in the air. Then in Revelation 11, “The kingdoms of this world are become the Kingdom of Our Lord and of His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever.”

We need to see this as finished. We have no need to wait for something to happen. We need to act…To Stand!…To Declare!…To allow Him to increase so that we may decrease.

In Him we Live

The Acts of the Apostles says, “It’s in Him we live and move and have our being.” When Jesus said, it is finished. It was. The Lord has given us what we need. We need to stand. We need to intercede! We need to Worship, declare His praise in the earth, until hills and valleys burst into song and the trees of the field clap their hands!

Creation itself responds to His Voice! The creation groans in expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. The Lord asked Ezekiel, “son of man can these bones live?” Then He said, “YOU Prophecy to the dry bones!” When he obeyed, the Lord Himself breathed into them and they became an army.

In Revelation it also says, “They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.” Later in Revelation he says, “that the Spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus Christ.” We as prophets need to quit playing at words that only hit the ground and begin to speak words of deliverance and healing and restoration into creation itself.

Guys, I’ve been in prophetic ministry for over 40 years. This is the hour we have waited on. Let us unite together in His Love and His Authority and go into the market place declaring the Kingdom is at Hand!

We need to release our faith as on the day of Pentecost. We as believers need to make His Name famous–not Ours. This is the message! “JESUS IS LORD!!!

Finally I’ll leave you with this from Hebrews chapter 7. “This Melchizedek towers out of the past with no earthly genealogy; no record of father or mother. In this way, HE IS LIKE THE SON OF GOD ONE HUGE PRIESTLY PRESENCE DOMINATING THE LANDSCAPE ALWAYS.” Sorry, I am quoting by memory, a little paraphrased. Read this in the Message bible.

The Last Days

We need to be one huge presence in the earth… The Lord awaits us. The world awaits us. For I can do all things through Christ Jesus our Lord. Remember, of the increase of HIS GOVERNMENT AND PEACE there is no end. If you are waiting for antichrist they’ve been coming and going for years. You can name them. If you are waiting for the beast, look in the mirror. Revelation tells us he looks like a lamb but has horns like a dragon. Does that sound familiar about the duel nature within us.

Are you pre-trib, mid-trib, or post-trib? Look around. The earth fell into the hands of the evil one with Adam and Eve. We’ve been in over 6 thousand years of tribulation already. How many more plagues do we need. We’ve never seen anything in the earth before like we see now.

I’m not crazy. I am proclaiming a living and breathing Gospel. Also, a living and breathing sleeping church that needs to, Isaiah 61, “Arise and Shine for the Glory of the Lord Arises Upon You!!!!!! Now is the Time!!!! This is the hour.

Thank you for this space to speak……Blessings to all of you. I Love Him and I Love His Church. I do not judge nor condemn. We are in the midst or throes of that already. If we don’t stand together it will get worse before it gets better. The Lord will have a Called out People to complete His plan.

A Finished Work

Mark of the Beast

The Meaning of the Mark of the Beast

Mark of the Beast

This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Revelation 13:18, ESV

There’s probably not a concept in scripture that is more hotly debated than the meaning of the mark of the beast and I’m finally going to weigh in on this subject. I’m sure that this will generate lots of hate mail, but please think about this and reflect on it first. You can always hate on me later.

The Fundamentalists teach that when you interpret scripture, you must first do so literally. I’ve always been a believer that God wrote the scriptures to communicate to us. There is research to be done, for sure, and revelations to be found, but the major doctrines of scripture are going to be clear and self explanatory in the passage they’re in.

John, in this verse, tells us two things about the mark of the beast. First that it takes a little wisdom to understand this, and second that it’s the number of man. (The translator added the article. Like in Neil Armstrong‘s proclamation, the ‘a’ doesn’t appear in the original text.)

The Number of Man

If you’d like, google bible numerology 6 and every hit you find will tell you that the number six means man and, often, fallen man. God created Man on the sixth day. John tells us that this is the number of man.

What we miss in English translations is something any reader of Ancient Hebrew would understand. Hebrew doesn’t have words like holier and holiest. When you want to say something is more holy than something else in Ancient Hebrew, you say, “holy, holy.” If you want to say something is most holy, you say, “holy, holy, holy.” This is why…

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Revelation 4:8, ESV

So, the Revelation of Jesus Christ is telling us this: If you want to know what the mark of the beast is, it is the number of fallen man to the worst possible degree.

At the time of this writing, the corona virus COVID-19 is dominating the news. People are hoarding up supplies and others are price gouging people for these supplies that are now scarce. That is the mark of the beast, the worst nature of the heart of man.

The good news is that in our hearts is also the nature of the Christ. The battle that rages on is between these two forces in our hearts. The more we yield to the one, the less the other will dominate our destiny.

So, it’s your choice. Who’s going to win the battle of your heart?

For Life

I usually stay out of political debates, because legislation is not my business and legislating morality has never worked. The Mosaic Law is proof enough of that. No one can meet God’s standard of morality.

But the arguments going on right now about abortion laws are often insane and I’m going to post my position on the subject just so my position is there.

I’ve heard people talk about making exceptions for abortions in the case of rape and incest and how it proves that pro-lifers are actually sell-outs. Laws are about compromise and about reality and not about morality. I’m okay with granting exceptions in these situations because everyone who knows understands that these are such a small percentage of the actual abortions performed in the United States that I’ll take it to prevent 99.5% of abortions. (That’s right. According to a 2004 survey by the Guttmacher Institute, only .5% of abortions are the result of rape. See how I post sources for my statistics?)

So why do we hear so much about this? Because it’s the tragedy card. It must be awful for a woman to find out she’s pregnant as a result of being a victim of a crime. This case invokes sympathy from everyone, and rightly so. If we take this away from the argument, then people have to make an argument about abortions to spare someone from the consequences of their decisions and that’s not a great position to be in.

So much of our culture is about sparing people from the consequences of their decisions. I guess, for the most part, I’m okay with this because Jesus came to spare us all from the consequences of our decisions.

I am not judging. I have done plenty of stupid things in my life that I regret. Fortunately, as far as I know, none my of stupid mistakes resulted in long-term damage to someone else. This is not a position to look down on someone else, it’s just by God’s grace, I’ve never had to live for the rest knowing that I altered someone else’s life forever. Believe me, I’m grateful to God for that.

My sympathy goes out to people that are pregnant with babies that they never wanted. They are faced with lots of choices on how to deal with that situation and all of them are hard. They have my sympathy, they truly do, but they made choices that put them into that position. Again, I’m not judging, but part of being a grown-up is facing the consequences of our actions. Read Proverbs.

What I’m not okay with is saying that a baby must be murdered so that someone can be saved from the consequences of their actions.

This is where the pro-choice people scream, “You can’t prove it’s a baby! It’s just a fetus.” The answer is, you can’t prove that it’s not, either. Saying it’s not a baby is not based on scientific evidence or anything else. It is said because people want it to be true.

If I am standing on a street corner and a mother comes up in a stroller with a one-month old baby in it. She leaves the stroller for a second to look at a pair of shoes on sale at a sidewalk sale.

In the meantime, a man walks up with an ax and hacks the baby to pieces. If I stand by and watch this happen and do absolutely nothing about it, how would you feel about me? Legally, I’m free of any prosecution, but how would my friends and family feel about the situation?

So if the baby is, let’s say, six months younger, does that change my responsibility?

If, in my heart, I feel like there are around 700,000 babies murdered each year in my country, the Land of the Free, and I did nothing, what would you think of me?

I don’t do politics. Among the reasons is that legislating morality is not effective. We must attack sin at the root if there is to be true change in people’s lives.

But if I feel that this is a baby, am I not morally obligated to say something about it? Because, no matter what anyone says, I must live with my conscience and my conscience says that this is a baby and I applaud people who stand up for lives that other people don’t care about.

Regardless of what the law says, my heart says abortion is murdering a child. Everything else is window-dressing.

Gideon

The Gideon Factor

The Gideon Factor, overcoming fear through faith. Free to read and download.

Healing Hands

List of Healings in the Bible

I was doing some research and compiled a list of healings in the Bibl. The source list I used was missing at least a couple, so there may be others. Feel free to let me know if you find one.

DescriptionReferenceCategory
Sarah supernaturally conceived and nursedGenesis 21:1,7Restoration
Miriam struck with leprosy and healedNumbers 12:10-15Restoration
Jeroboam’s hand instantly withered and restored1 Kings 13:4-6Restoration
Widow’s son raised from the dead1 Kings 17:17-24Illness
Shunamite’s son raised from the dead2 Kings 4:32-37Illness
Naaman healed of leprosy2 Kings 5:10-27Illness
Syrian army struck blind and healed2 Kings 6:18, 20Restoration
Jesus heals two blind menMatthew 9:27-31Birth defect?
Jesus casts out dumb spiritMatthew 9:32-34Possession
Jesus casts out deaf and dumb spiritMark 7:31-37Possession
Jesus heals blind man of BethsaidaMark 8:22-26Birth defect?
Jesus raised the widow’s sonLuke 7:11-17Illness?
Woman with spirit of infirmityLuke 13:11-13Possession
Man with dropsyLuke 14:1-6Illness
Ten LepersLuke 17:11-19Illness
Malchus’ earLuke 22:50-51Injury
Nobleman’s sonJohn 4:46-54Illness
Impotent man at BethsaidaJohn 5:1-9Illness?
Man born blindJohn 9:1-7Birth defect
Lazarus raised from deadJohn 11:38-44Illness
Syrophoenician woman’s daughter healedMatt 15:28; Mark 7:24Illness
Centurion’s servant healedMatt 8:5; Luke 7:1Illness
Blind and dumb demoniac curedMatt 12:22; Luke 11:14Possession
Peter’s wife’s mother healedMatt 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38Illness
LeperMatt 8:2; Mark 1:40; Luke 5:12Illness
Woman’s issue of blood healedMatt 9:20; Mark 5:25; Luke 8:43Illness
Man sick of the palsy healedMatt 9:2; Mark 2:3; Luke 5:18Illness
Man’s withered hand healedMatt 12:10; Mark 3:1; Luke 6:6Birth defect
Lunatic child healedMatt 17:14; Mark 9:14; Luke 9:37Possession
2 blind men instantly healedMatt 20:29; Mark 10:46; Luke 18:35Birth defect?
Peter and John heal crippleActs 3:1-9Birth defect
Peter and the HEALING of a the paralytic Aeneas at LyddaActs 9:32, 35, 38Illness
Tabitha (Dorcas) raised from the deadActs 9:36-43Illness

Some Comments on the Categories in the List of Healings in the Bible

As part of the study, I thought it would be useful to create some categories of healing. It doesn’t always say, but I’ve tried to categorize as best I could.

Restoration

This is either reversing a natural condition, or reversing something God did to a person.

Birth Defect

Healing of people born with a particular problem.

Illness

Someone got sick. Note that this list never includes head colds and the like, but are always debilitating or potentially fatal diseases.

Injury

Curing the after effects of an accident or an injury. Note that there is only one of these in the scriptures and it was Jesus’ last miracle.

Judas with Gold

What will Define us?

“And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” Revelation 12:10-11

Many think that this scripture refers to those killed for their faith in God. I believe it means way more than that.

The scriptures are filled with those who suffered and bled for the kingdom of God. Who the scriptures are not filled with are those who couldn’t cut it–the ones who let their pain define who they are and quit and were taken out.

The only one I can think of is Judas. He had all of the gifts and training possible, but in the end his pain and fear defined him. The things he couldn’t let go of caused him to be remembered as THE villain in world history.

Too often, in scripture, heroes show up with no back story. Elijah, Elisha, John the Baptist show up cut, seemingly, from whole cloth. Their ministries transformed the world and keep transforming it. Their impact is still felt on their cultures. One of them even overcame what Paul called “The last foe to be conquered”–death, and walked into eternity without dying.

But dig a little deeper and you will see that that is not the only thing they have in common. They all lived by themselves in the wilderness. Do you think this is because they had satisfactory personal lives?

Honorable Mention

Hebrews chapter 11 contains some of the greatest stories of faith ever told. I have always been interested in this verse near the end:

And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah…” Hebrews 11:32

I call this the “honorable mention” category. Men who had some great victories, but in the end, their pain defined them and they died far short of their destinies.

There was a prophet we knew pretty well who fits into this category. He overcame much in his childhood and honed his giftings and touched many lives, especially those of my family.

I have seen him reach into hell itself and pull people out and extinguish the flames. Sadly, though, his pain defined him. In the end, he died far too young, an empty husk of a man, so far short of who he could have been.

I have seen many others accomplish a few things in life, but couldn’t let go of the past, and ended up trapped by it. As long as there is breath, there is hope, but it seems that they have short circuited their destinies. They won’t even make it to honorable mention.

Being an Overcomer, or, not Letting Pain Define us

The ones who’s histories we do know, don’t have happy ones.

Joseph, it seems, could never catch a break. He stayed faithful even though everything fell against him until the day when he was seated on the throne of one of the greatest nation states in all of history.

Daniel’s parents were probably slaughtered in front of him. He lived a roller coaster of a life, and, as a result of not being defined by that, was given one of the greatest prophetic revelations in scripture.

Moses and Paul were born with everything the world has to offer–money, power, influence. There decision to pursue their destinies truly cost them everything. As a result, they had some of the most powerful ministries on earth.

Paul told us to “present our bodies as living sacrifices.” I told a friend a number of years ago, that being in the kingdom is about keeping our eyes on the ball. We must remember who we’re called to be and let everything else go.

Why we Fight

This fallen world is full of pain–more so for those of us who try to serve our God. It is easy to lose track of why we do this. That’s how we will give up. We forget why we fight.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to this: Jesus paid our debt for us because the only way we could pay for it ourselves is to burn in hell for all of eternity. He gave us this with no conditions. We can accept his free gift and live however we choose.

But his dream for us is to be overcomers. It’s not possible for us to repay him for what he did for us. The least we can do is fulfill his dream for our lives by letting go of the pain and fear and choosing not to love our lives even unto death.

This is how the devil is conquered, by us being willing to be overcomers in spite of all of the distractions.

The Wind has Shifted

Almost 2000 years ago a wind the earth never saw before blew through a room where 120 people sat seeking what the church would be. That wind changed the planet forever.

For 2000 years the currents and eddies from that wind have changed history, influenced events, and prepared the way. It has blown swift and steady in the hearts and lives of those that desired God and his word.

Now, as I sit here in the Eastern Time Zone of the United States in the wee small hours of the morning of August 29th, 2017, I’m telling you that, for the first time in 2,000 years, that wind has shifted.

The Southern Baptist Convention has convened a meeting with a group of hand-chosen leaders. They are discussing what has gone wrong in the church and are trying to understand the structure of the church as it is and as it should be. Whether through plan or accident, there are 120 of them. This meeting will not end as they expected. This is the reason that I was at Center Point all of those years.

The wind has shifted. Can you feel it?

Firefighters often fear wind shifts when dealing with forest fires. It can fan the flames, cause them to jump rivers, and spread out of
control. This wind shift will do exactly that.

Men will no longer be able to control the fire. It will be beyond their control. This fire will burn to the edges of the earth and will bring men to faith. The kingdom of God is about to grow more explosively than it did in those days of Jerusalem.

The wind has shifted. Can you feel it?

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