Is Your Crown on Straight?

I married a man who proclaimed to be a Christian. I did all the right things. We counseled with his pastor (I had just moved to a new city and had not found a church). I asked all the right questions. I watched. I prayed. I fell in love. I sought God. I got married. . I am a Spirit-filled Christian. No matter what your “theology” is, no matter what our differences are, you cannot deny that I love the Lord and I know he loves me. And yet, I still found myself divorced, full of shame, alone—wounded. My family loved me but I was so covered with shame and so rejected by the church that I confused even my own family’s love with obligation. Sometimes God’s love for us is clouded, as it was here—and yet in the midst of criticism, shame and pain there came that voice, that loving voice, that voice I follow, that voice that calls to me continuously.

John 10:27

²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

That voice that lets me know I am loved in the middle of judgment, condemnation, insecurity, inferiority and shame. Those hateful, critical words that are arrows into the heart from the ones who should love us the most…

Romans 15:5-7

⁵ May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus,⁶ so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

The thing that struck me the most during this time of healing and restoration was not only the hateful critical words of the body but the arrogance of people who judged me with an iron hammer without mercy.

1 Corinthians 3:11-20

¹¹ For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, ¹³ his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. ¹⁴ If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. ¹⁵ If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.

¹⁶ Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? ¹⁷ If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.

¹⁸ Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”; ²⁰ and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” 

God’s love is life. Spiritual sophistication is death. Death to you and potential death to the ones you shoot the darts at…

 

 

1 Corinthians 4:12

¹² We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it.

When you are wounded you have to bless, you have to endure. If you use the same type of destructive, prideful words it becomes death to you.

Proverbs 13:10

¹⁰ Pride only breeds quarrels…

Proverbs 12:18

¹⁸ Reckless words pierce like a sword, 
    but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

 

Psalm 10:2-4

² In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,

Do you know someone weak right now? Someone who is under the bondage of shame? Some who is hurting for whatever reason? Do you know someone who has been persecuted by the church? Have you listened to the judgment of others over someone’s life? I think everyone knows someone in one of these categories. Are you interceding for them? Are you praying out of superiority and head knowledge or out of the heart of God?

In Esther 1 we learn about Queen Vashti and King Xeres. She was beautiful, titled, powerful and wealthy—all the things people strive for. The king was “having friends over”. Truthfully they had just celebrated his wealth and position for 6 months and now he was having a special 7 day celebration. He was drunk and sent the eunuchs for his queen. He wanted to show her off. She would undergo comments. She would be put on display to make him look good.

She refused to come. She had become confident in her power. Her wealth. Her title. She forgot that all of it came through the king. She got “too big for her britches”. He striped her of everything and banished her.

Whose Queen are you? The queen of your own making or are you His Queen? Does your heart melt at His voice? Does your own voice resonate in your ears louder than his voice? Whose voice are you obeying?

Revelation 12:11

¹¹ They overcame him
    by the blood of the Lamb 
    and by the word of their testimony; 
they did not love their lives so much
    as to shrink from death.

Are you walking in the realm of His power or in the pretense of your own power? Have you forgotten what it is all about?

1 Corinthians 4:20

²⁰ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

Have you taken a stand against spiritual sophistication or are you joining forces with it?

Have you checked self-importance of the throne room door?

Have you heard you King calling his Queen? 

Who is on His heart today? 

Who is on yours?

How Passionate are You?????

Most people know the story of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were 2 ultimately sinful cities. They had refused everything God presented to them. Their goal was pleasure and pleasure only. They were violent in their pursuit of their own pleasure. They had no respect for others or their “rights”. Perversion and violence of every form was accepted and tolerated. In their “sophistication” and knowledge they had lost wisdom along the way and the “stupidity” of exalting themselves above the lives God offered then was the norm. Every man was out for himself though they traveled in packs like wild animals and like wild animals they would easily turn on each other. No one was safe.

Let’s look at America today. We are a nation blessed of God, established by God with a Godly heritage and the opportunity to live as a nation seen under the hand and blessings of God. We walked in that for a time---then we became “sophisticated” arrogant in fact, forgetting that the blessings we were operating under were from God We began to think our “rights” were more important than those of our neighbor. We began to pursue our own pleasures. We began to call evil good and good evil. A big trigger point is abortion. If I say I think abortion is murder I am attacked. This is not murder. Until the child is born it is not a child but a “fetus” (not to be vulgar but what the heck is a “fetus” except an unborn child?). But if a woman with a large family wants to have another baby she is attacked because she should not bring another child onto this earth. If I kill a pregnant whale I am evil because I “murdered” a baby whale. See the inconsistencies here? Evil is good and good is evil. We are more concerned with pleasure than any truth that will jostle our wants, our desires, our “rights”. I use the whale because I truly believe that people consider the “baby” whale more important than a “fetus” is because people like to go whale watching. Call me crazy, call me conservative, call me whatever you want but I pray that the Lord of Lords will open your eyes and dig out your ears so that you hear and see truth versus “popular opinion” disguised as truth.

Piece by piece Americans have rejected the truths of God for our own pleasure pursuing endeavors. America wants God out of the country—and he has done as Khrushchev said to Kennedy in the ‘60’s start with the children. Prayer in schools is outlawed. One person pushed until she got an entire nation to agree and a door was closed to God. The rejection of God was pushed to new heights in the children of America. The message they got was their wants and their desires were more important than the truths of God. They no longer had to acknowledge Him. Their wants and desires were more important than any god—especially the most high God who deserves our devotion.

We can see the results that quickly snowballed into the mess we have today. People out of work, the porno viewing pleasure of people more important than the rights of the child next to them,

Genesis 18:16-29 (NIV)

Abraham Pleads for Sodom

¹⁶ When the men got up to leave, they looked down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked along with them to see them on their way. ¹⁷ Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.^[a] 19 For I have chosen him , so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lordby doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

²⁰ Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous ²¹ that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

²² The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.^[b] 23 Then Abraham approached him and said: “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ What if there are fifty righteous . people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare^[c] the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing —to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

²⁶ The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake. ”

²⁷ Then Abraham spoke up again: “Now that I have been so bold as to speak to the Lord, though I am nothing but dust and ashes, ²⁸ what if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

“If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ Once again he spoke to him, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “For the sake of forty, I will not do it.”

As intercessors we have the responsibility to turn our nation back to God. It is our job, our duty, our calling and should be the desire of our hearts. He will hear and our country will not only stand a chance but prayerfully be a field for the harvest.

Are you passionate enough about your Lord to plead for your country? As my friend Lee would say, "We are burning daylight here folks."

The Reality of Fly Fishing

 Fly Fishing

Have you noticed how many people look back with longing? Didn’t we learn anything from the Israelites’ wandering in the desert for 40 years?

 Looking backwards gives you a distorted view. Try it look over your shoulder—don’t turn anything but your head. How is that view of where you have been?

If God had wanted you there he would not have brought you to where you are now.  Think about it.

The enemy casts thoughts as accurately as a fly fisherman and like the 

fish you do NOT have to take the bait. Like any passionate fisherman he does continue to cast though—hear the sound of the reel as the fly heads towards the pool of your doubts (you know that area where you hide from everyone and meditate on 1/2 truths, fleshy longings, emotional bondages). Snap-he hooks you like a fish and continuously pulls the line to turn your head and focus from Christ back to some other time and he makes it look GOOD.

Turn and look over your shoulder—it is distorted. That is what the enemy does. He distorts your view. That distortion removes all the negatives and gives you a fuzzy view of what he wants you to see.

Remember the Israelites? They were in Egypt, slaves who had to build the pyramids. People go look at the pyramids or look at the pictures and marvel at how wonderful they are but is there any realization of the cost? The lives that were lost? The blood, sweat and tears that were required for every block put into place? We look back at the wonder and the beauty but it is a distorted view. The oppression was horrible and it increased every time they did something that irritated their “masters”. They ended up having to make their own bricks and build.

What is being distorted in your life? 

• An abusive marriage that is remembered “fondly” because it wasn't “that” bad—and at least you weren't lonely.
• A childhood that wasn’t what you wanted so “everything” was bad.
• High school where you were never accepted in the popular crowd so you were a failure.

What distortions are in your life? Pack them  up. Ship them off--useless baggage.

What distortions do you see in other's lives? Things they cannot seem to get free from? Does it break your heart for them or does it irritate you? If it irritates--repent. Then put on your armor and help them through intercession. God doesn't show us things for entertainment but for restoration and redemption. 

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Is 58:11-12

Get your armor on--we have work to do....

Sticks and Stones

Stick and stones will break your bones

But names will never hurt you.

Well that was a HUGE lie—names hurt: 4 eyes, stupid, loser, fat-so—names hurt far more than some stick.

Luke 17:1-4

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. ² It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. ³ So watch yourselves.

“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. ⁴ Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

An unforgiven offense stops everything God is doing. He sent us to heal the broken hearted so destroy anything in your life that will halt what He has called you to do.

Sticks—offense, gr: scandalon or trap stick literally the stick that holds the trap up—the one with the string attached.

An offense is a trap, something done to you, that violates you, it captivates you, an unforgiven offense shackles you and chains you. Woe to the one from whom it comes. Many words say more in sound/tone than their meaning. WOE.

Stone—a millstone weighted 60-100K. It represents a stone of judgment. IT will take you do to judgment. Better to get the stone.

Names are far worse than sticks and stones. They cause bondages.

Father: hate,, bitterness, tenseness, abandonment, rejections.

Sitting in McDonalds recently a family came and sat at the table beside me. There was a cute little 10 year old, her 13 year old sister and her dad plus the grandparents. They were just coming from the airport and a very long flight. He criticized her hair, her clothes, the way she sat, just over and over—never when anyone else was around—just when it was them at the table or walking around. Nothing critical was said to the older one. Which one were you? How does it affect your relationship with God?

Offenses bend you out of shape.

Building block to the temple the Lord is building within your life. Canto—bend bow or twist. You cannot put up straight walls, a level floor, plum walls with canto building blocks.

Jesus holds all the keys, he opens doors no man can close and sets the captives free.

How many times do you hear that someone forgives but cannot stand the person? They forgive but do not want to ever be around them again. Forgive but wipe them out of their life. You have to wipe the debt out of you heart.

Offenses should be as far as the east is from the west. Blot out the sins.

Jesus is our example. He forgives your sins and then tells you he never wants to see you again? No, he unlocks your prison cell. He tells us to forgive and be forgiven. Or does he tell us he will make us pay? No he said he would go to hell instead.

Matthew 18:21-35  (NIV)

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

²¹ Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

²² Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶ “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸ “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹ “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

³⁰ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹ When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³² “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵ “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Jesus releases, forgives and forgets. When we do the same it sets captives free, beings healing, a restoration of vision and creates an acceptable day of the Lord.

Over and over again we see people in the Bible repent for others. God honors that. Do you see a situation where someone is stuck? Bent out of shape? In bondage? Shackled to their past? Get them before the throne so they can be set free. Forgive them so there is a freedom in the spiritual realm.

That is what is it all about—intercession is setting the captives free and protecting the ones who are free so they do not become entangled again in the yoke of bondage.

Who can you help today? Do you need to start with you?

The POW's are Waiting to be Set Free

Give yourself to God and He will give you back to yourself better than yourself. Socrates (this is not in quotes because no one really knows what he said—different than the Bible where there is the same exact quotes over the ages which turns out to be just another proof that the Bible is true.)

Does that describe intercession or what?

Luke 6:38: “Give, and it will be given back to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

The initial giving comes from you; (He calls, we chose) expectation comes from God who ends up giving you more than you ever dreamed. We do not understand the multiplication aspect in the spiritual realmbut it is available for our own life but in intercession it is a fantastic weapon.

I Corinthians 1:18 “For the message of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

Perishing doesn’t hurt initially--in fact you probably hardly even notice but circumstances will continue to occur until we are dull of hearing—perishing because we cannot hear directions, cannot hear where and what to eat, cannot receive living water. The perishing is spiritual and has devastating effects. If you are perishing you are a prisoner of war in Satan’s concentration camp. In WWII the concentration camps were horrible. People were gassed, starved, experimented on—they suffered at the hands of evil, sadistic captors. The POW’s of Vietnam were treated even worse; torture was the sport of the day. Spiritual captivity makes that look like kindergarten.

Plato—defense of self is useless verbally—live your life to prove who you are. (again not in quotes on purpose)

It is not what not what you say you are but how you act. A lot of Christians are embarrassed to tell others that they are Christians because so many have stained the name of Christ. Live for Christ—don’t talk Christ into shame. Don’t over promise and under deliver. Don’t pay people less than you should because you are a Christian. Don’t compromise the truth. If you are a Christian live it. Esteem your brother better than yourself. 

We all know people who are perishing--dying or dead spiritually. If you had a relative or friend who was in a concentration camp you would do ANYTHING to get them out. You have family in spiritual concentration camps. You have friends and acquaintances in spiritual concentration camps. It is time to stop praying “save ‘em” prayers and get them set free. It will take concentrated military maneuvers. You ready?

Let’s get this war more effective and set the captives free.  

What time do you have?

I was emailing this to intercessors or people who have expressed an interest in learning more about intercession but the Lord told me to put it on the blog. It is time for the body to come together and armor up.

I get LOTS of prayer requests and I am sure each of you do also.  One of the things that the Lord has been talking to me about is unity in the body. Several times lately I have gotten a request that include 20+ people. Most of the time there is no direction.

An example is “My friend is in late stage cancer and only has a few weeks to live. She is in a lot of pain and on all kinds of medication. Please pray for her.”

So, what are we praying? For her to be comfortable? Against symptoms? Healing? Quick trip home to the father? (This is not sarcasm but has actually been a request)

What is the person wanting--not what you want for the person what do they want? 

We have not because we ask not but what are we asking for? We don't receive because we ask amiss.

If Patton told the troops head across Germany and win the war and each soldier, pilot, tank driver etc. made it their own battle the enemy could just stand back and watch the army destroy themselves. The body of Christ has been doing this too long. 

I am not negating seeking the Lord and hearing what He gives you for a battle plan but when you are in a concentrated battle make sure you are in agreement with those around you. 

I hear the Lord saying that it is time to stop the infighting. Time to lay down prejudices. Time to destroy pride. Time to unify. Time to win.

Let's Get Engaged!!!

Intercessors are weird. I know that. (I have a t-shirt that says I am not weird: I am gifted--I am believing that.) We isolate often. We fight our own insecurities, inferiorities, shortcomings. BUT when we armor up--look out! That love turns into a war cry that can be heard throughout the kingdom of darkness and sends terror into the demonic realm. The scrambling begins while we wreak havoc--destroying their assignments, maneuvers, their attacks. This IS an actual Jihad.

You should have a daily reminder that this is war. The devil HATES you and wants you in hell. His goal is to send as many people as he can.  Right now we have all power and authority over all the power of the enemy. Eventually he will be given power over mankind. Revelation 13:7 He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them…. His goal is to destroy marriages, relationships, and people in general--often with religion. Churchianity/religion is demonic. Everything that began in fire but did not continue, anything without the Holy Spirit is demonic.

The enemy hates you and the world hates you—I told you this was a Jihad!

John 15:18-19 If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.  The world should hate you.

Jerusalem City is filled with sight seers and soldiers—so is the church. 

Go hard or go home.

 There is a huge difference between a soldier and a civilian:

A soldier does what he is told. A civilian does what he wants.

A soldier is serving others and is willing to give up his life for those he is protecting. A civilian is serving himself and holding onto his life.

A soldier gives up everything that would keep him from obeying their superior. A civilian gives up nothing.

A soldier is the opposite of a civilian.

Luke 9:59-62 Be engaged or be entangled.

II Timothy 2

He chose us--fighters, overcomers--the ones who will defeat the enemy. Go past what you think. Enlistment  brings responsibility not perfection. Sometimes you will be wounded--people follow those with battle scars because they know they have proven they know what they are doing and know how to win. Jesus is scarred head to toe and He is the biggest war hero ever. He took more, did more, was more and He chose us. He did not recruit for numbers, academia or fun. He is looking for hearts, for lives. 

Sometimes people think they can be Christians without the war--similar to being in the reserves. Trained and ready but not a full time soldier. They are still a soldier but it is different:

1. You go home at night.
2. You know that you get to go home.
3. You are on call while you live your own life.
4. You have a life.

Are you tying to live in the spiritual reserves? Living in cushy Christianity? It is not the same as serving everyday as a soldier. Are you fighting in the army of the Lord or just going to church and looking "good".

 If you are entangled, repent and re-enlist.

If you are engaged--look around you. Who are you serving with? Who are you praying with? Who are you in agreement with? Who are you praying for?

Get engaged.