Groaning For The Glory

Each one of us are called to live out the Isaiah 61 mandate within our own sphere of influence. The Mirror Translation captures this passage so beautifully, “The Spirit of the Lord us upon me, because he has anointed me to announce glad tidings to a starving people; he has commissioned me to announce the freedom of forgiveness to those held captive at spear-point by their guilt and shame; also the blind many now look up and be restored in their sight! I am anointed to send out those who are bruised and traumatized, into the freedom of their redeemed innocence. I announce that the Jubilee year of the Lord has come! This is the liberation celebration of the Lord, embracing humanity home”. What is the promise? Jesus is our hope! He is the hope of the nations. It is Christ in you, the hope of glory, the hope of things to come (Colossians 1:27). Francois du Toit of The Mirror says it like this, “He is not hiding in history, or in outer space nor in the future, neither in the pages of Scripture — he is merely mirrored there to be unveiled within you! What God was now able to disclose in the saints is immediately equally relevant in the nations! Christ in the nations is the hope of glory!! This is the mystery of the ages! This is what we were waiting for.” Romans 8:19 in The Passion declares, “The entire universe is standing on tiptoe, yearning to see the unveiling of God’s glorious sons and daughters!” The earth is groaning for the authentic sons and daughters to rise up. What is being unveiled? The Trinity is taking us back to the Garden where it all began. They’re restoring the garden in our heart; They’re restoring us back to the original design. We are being restored in Their image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27). We are being restored and transformed to the place where we do life from, from a place of partaking from the The Tree of Life vs. the mindsets, paradigms and misalignments that attempt to cause us to partake from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He’s restoring communities, regions and nations backs to their original design, their original DNA; He’s setting things back in motion. What are we being unveiled with? The glory of Jesus Christ! Christ’s glory comes to us, enters us, fills us, envelopes us, then is revealed through us as partakers of the glory. I’ve heard people say that God will not share His glory with “any other” (Isaiah 42). We are no longer “another” for we are one with the Father, with the Son and and with the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus, just as we were with the Them back in the garden in the very beginning where it all began. When we look at Jesus dying on the cross, ultimately, it was to give the Father back His right to cover the earth with His glory. Ephesians 2:6 has given us the perfection and authority to be co-seated with Him. Jesus keeps looking at us, not as we see ourselves through our own filters and lenses, but turns and looks at us in the heavenly places seated with Him, gazing and focusing on us as complete and whole. A fresh baptism in the Holy Spirit, one of of fire and glory, is coming to encounter us and take us deeper into the heart of the Father—one that sets communities, tribes and nations back into their original design where they live from the place of fullness and glory. From this, God is forming new wineskins in us for the New Wine that He is pouring out like never before. Get ready for the overflow in your life from the intimacy and sustained connection in His heart that this new vintage will yield. May Ruach Ha Kodesh (Holy Spirit in Hebrew), the Spirit of Truth, continue to set our souls on fire as we partner with him as He continues to lead and guide us into all truth. Love,           Joel

Out of the Grey

We truly have an amazing thing going on in us every single day. When some days we feel off or grey, think of this fact; Great, Big, Wonderful God of the Universe has a Spirit and that Spirit lives inside of us! Holy Spirit lives from the realm of the perfect: perfect peace, perfect revelation, perfect love.... That person, Holy Spirit is with us and for us. A constant companion, Holy Spirit, is willing to guide us through everything from the little stuff to the big stuff and more.   Romans 8:14 tells us that “the original life of the Father revealed in his Son is the life the Spirit now conducts within us.” WOW, what a privilege! One of our tendencies is to become dull or fogged over. Often, it’s because we forget the heavenly resource we have within. But as a permanent resident, Holy Spirit is right there, willing to help lift us up and shift us out of the grey and into vibrancy again. Even when we feel stuck about what to talk about with God, there’s help. Check this out: “The Spirit also sighs within us with words too deep for articulation, assisting us in our prayers when we struggle to know how to pray properly. When we feel restricted in our flesh, he supersedes our clumsy efforts and hits the bulls-eye every time. He who scrutinizes the heart understands the intention of the spirit. His intercession for the saints is consistent with the blue-print purpose of God.” Romans 8:26 & 27 Really, we don’t need to spin our wheels, wondering what to do, where to go and so on. We think we do. We even seem to think that it’s irresponsible to be more at ease when we’re facing things. But again, we have one Who knows it all and has our best in mind. He wants to take us from the grey area to where life is flowing. Let’s let him!   John 16:13 “When the Friend comes, the Spirit of Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.”

Never the Same

Pentecost is upon us, the time we celebrate the original dramatic outpouring of the Holy Spirit to signify God was no longer content to be present with his children as a cloud or a pillar of fire or any other external way, but had to live inside each one of us, collectively, within his bride.   In every way, when Jesus was in human flesh, he perfectly modeled the life of our original design. The way God purposed us to live can be seen in Jesus. In humility he was baptized to model for us the need to die to our independent and old ways of thinking and perceiving what we thought was true of God, ourselves and others. Jesus knew we would have no way of doing this on our own, but that God would miraculously include us in Christ’s death on the cross. This is why Romans 6:3 reminds us, “when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death.”   Then, when Jesus came up from the waters of the Jordan River, he was immediately filled with the Spirit, a gift from God. Jesus’ life was never the same after that. Once again, Jesus was modeling for us God’s purpose and design for our lives. Jesus, always the forerunner, experienced what his disciples were to encounter on the Day of Pentecost and what countless followers of Jesus have experienced to this very day—a dramatic and powerful encounter with Holy Spirit’s infilling of love and power, never to be the same again!   Alive on the earth fully as a human, Jesus could not have released his Father’s Kingdom with love, forgiveness, signs and wonders without being filled with God’s Spirit. If he could, then we would not need Holy Spirit. That simply isn’t true.   From the time Jesus was filled with the Spirit, he also modeled complete dependence and showed us what the Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life looks like for us to walk in the same.   Immediately after his baptism, Jesus was tested in the desert, a test of whether Jesus would listen to the lies of the enemy regarding his true identity, or whether he would trust his loving Father and rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit within him to declare the truth of his being the way God knew it to be. He passed the test and showed us how to do the same.   Upon his return from the desert, Jesus declared the purpose of his life as designed by his heavenly Father. By declaring this Old Testament prophecy as his own life’s purpose, he was inviting us to do the very same. As you read this, I encourage you to be aware of how the Spirit you are speaking of vibrantly lives within you. I encourage you to yield to the sweet, tender and powerful Holy Spirit within to brilliantly lead you to live out your life’s true design. I encourage you to follow Jesus’ example and declare what is true of yourself:   “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to announce glad tidings to a starving people; he has commissioned me to announce the freedom of forgiveness to those held captive at spear-point by their guilt and shame; also, the blind may now look up and be restored in their sight. I am anointed to send out those who are bruised and traumatized, into the freedom of their redeemed innocence. I announce the Jubilee year of the Lord has come. This is the liberation celebration of the Lord, embracing humanity.”  (Luke 4:18-19 in The Mirror Bible)

The Choice Is Yours

Faith is a lens that changes everything! I liken it to my recent cataract surgery, where image and color were reborn through the new lenses. “I Can See Clearly Now the Rain is Gone” is my latest song! The decisions we make daily aren’t isolated choices. They carry the potential to point us in the direction we are divinely set up to go or get us off track. Unfortunately, too many dreams, well-intended plans, and callings from God get buried with people who “would’ve, could’ve, should’ve,” but never did!        These people never found their courageous “Yes, I’m ‘gonna’ do this,” and gave up the fight for their confidence to say, “No, I will not walk away or accept defeat!” However, they may agree now that delayed obedience to God’s voice can be disobedience with a price attached.         As I sat on the restaurant patio looking at my friends, the Lokkers, an “Open for Business During Construction” sign was in their background above a huge deep hole in the ground. I heard in my spirit, “The deeper the hole, the greater the building.” Doing our Father’s Kingdom business can be a long and arduous process, and the digging can be painful, but if it were easy, everyone would do it, and there would be a crowd at the top of our mountain!         This month thirty-six pararescuemen graduated with my son, James, after conquering the rigorous “pipeline” training with an 80 to 100 percent attrition rate! “PJs” must endure the pressure of these cuts for two years while they complete each training segment of selection, combat dive school, airborne, free fall, survival training, paramedic school, tactics, and mastering the helicopter’s air operations. They are the elite Special forces who globally rescue military and civilians and work with NASA. Their mascot is the guardian angel, and their motto is “We do these things that others may live.” The correlation is prominent among believers who are trained as disciples of Jesus to fulfill the great commission; to go into all of the world, baptize all in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teach them to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons,        Are you willing and positioned to be trained, sharpened, and honed with creative skills to set the prisoners free, bring healing to the wounded, and dedicate your time, energy, and life to aiding others?         The great stag in the forest wins by the strength of his antlers. Where he fed the season before will determine his defeat or victory!         When we offer God our willingness, He empowers us to take what He has given us and multiply that blessing to others. The process begins with OUR FAITH IN HIM to take the first few steps, and then the adventure begins as we awaken to the Divine Set-Ups He brings to our attention to demonstrate HIS FAITH IN US! Then there is character building, attitude shaping, and soul defining, all of which must take place for us to become what God intends. The step-by-step accomplishments are more than tasks. We are building a legacy ~ we are shaping God’s Kingdom and discovering the calling for our family and us.   Kathleen O’Donnell Dew is the Author of Divine Set-Ups, Coincidence or Destiny? She and Bill Dew ministered at Blazing Fire last Saturday where dozens experienced the healing power of God.

Elegant Solutions

God showed me today that trusting Him eventually led to becoming like Him. He started out with this scripture:  Prov 3:5-6  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight." I prayed that I would lean on His understanding and that in every place where I didn’t that I would. The part of this verse that stuck out was, “In all your ways acknowledge Him.” I have always cringed a bit to being totally open with Him, because this command is about full disclosure of all that we do. He then showed me that when we are open, basically showing our full face with Him, that He then can show His. We are then face to face. He also showed me that my fear of being confronted when open with everything, the bad and ugly stuff, that it was totally unfounded. Acknowledging it all was not about being confronted and being called to task to make amends and fall before Him in deep remorse. Acknowledging Him is about relationship, friendship, safety and security. In the midst of that safe warm place I find solutions and perspectives that never occurred to me.  I then stop leaning on my own understanding and instead see things from His point of view. This also gives Him a chance to be uplifting and kind when I have fallen into deep despair or dread over something. If I am open, I am trusting Him and He picks me up in ways that are meaningful to me. In this learning environment I develop wisdom, understanding and truth. This means I become more like Him. To be like Him is to have peace. Years ago I was really upset with someone who just drove me up the wall. I acknowledged this to the Lord sometimes feeling bad that I was not like Jesus with great compassion. In time I was comfortable in discussing my anger on a regular basis and nothing bad happened to me. I just felt like I was talking to my best friend who didn’t judge me, but just heard me. As time went on He said again and again to have peace, like a broken record and not unlike me continually repeating how angry I was. He out repeated me. I then began to see how very temporary the situation was compared to all eternity. Once I got that perspective I realized I had better things to do than waste my time on tantrums. Shortly thereafter the situation resolved itself and my ire had dissipated and the relationship was mended. If we acknowledge Him in everything, in time He presents us with elegant solutions. He did not condemn me for being angry. He did not force me to make restitutions or any kind of penance. He just held me. He holds us right where we are in the midst of what we are going through and in time gives us new ways of looking at things. This whole thing about trusting Him is really in the end a call to become just like Him … straight in all our ways. We become like Him seeing from His point of view and living like Him in peace and joy. (You can read this and other prophetic insights on Bill Hernandez’ website, whisperoflove.org)

The Father's Love Song

Last week was such a fun, life-giving time together as we ventured through songs from the last 5 or 6 decades (most from the late 60’s to the 90’s) to tell the astoundingly beautiful story of the prodigal son that Jesus told in Luke 15.   It’s probably the clearest picture Jesus used for us to understand the depths of our heavenly Father’s heart for us no matter what. And in this depiction, we’re shown that our status as God’s sons and daughters doesn’t change at any point. He is a Father who is always beckoning us back into the home of his warm heart.   In case you missed it or as a reminder of what you heard last week, here’s a very small sample of the highlights. As you sing these songs in your head or out loud, enjoy in a renewed way the truth of your Father’s deep and abiding love for you…no matter what!

As his son walked away with his share of the inheritance, the father watched with deep sadness knowing there would be some painful lessons he would have to learn from his choice to wander…   “What a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away” ~ Doobie Brothers

As the father watched and waited there was great hope in his heart, knowing this wasn’t the end of the story…   “Love will lead you back Someday I just know that Love will lead you back to my arms Where you belong I'm sure, sure as stars are shining One day you will find me again It won't be long One of these days our love will lead you back” ~ Taylor Dayne

The aching loneliness in his heart began his search for what had left behind…   “In my life there's been heartache and pain I don't know if I can face it again Can't stop now, I've traveled so far, to change this lonely life I want to know what love is I want you to show me I want to feel what love is, I know you can show me” ~ Foreigner

It was at this moment that he finally came to his senses…   I'm all out of love; I'm so lost without you I know you were right, believing for so long I'm all out of love, what am I without you? I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong ~ Air Supply

When he turned the final corner to his home, he saw his father—not just waiting for him, but running towards him!   “So now I come to you with open arms Nothing to hide, believe what I say So here I am with open arms Hoping you'll see what your love means to me Open arms” ~ Journey

The Father had a huge party! My son was dead and is alive again! He was lost and is found! Let’s have a feast and celebrate!   There's a party goin' on right here A celebration to last throughout the years So bring your good times and your laughter too We gonna celebrate your party with you, come on now Celebration! Let's all celebrate and have a good time Celebration! We gonna celebrate and have a good time ~ Kool & The Gang

When the older son found out his father was throwing a party for his younger brother, he was angry and refused to go inside. “My son,” the father said, “You are always with me and everything I have is yours.”  He was saying to his son…   I said I love you that's forever This I promise from the heart, mhm-mmh I couldn't love you any better I love you just the way you are I don't want clever conversation I never want to work that hard, mhm-mmh I just want someone that I can talk to I want you just the way you are ~ Billy Joel

A Great Harvest of Souls is Upon Us

In a vision Jesus showed up and said, “I am the way, the truth and the life. no one comes to the Father except through me.” What was so very poignant about my clear awareness of His presence before me is that more often I sense the Father and the Holy Spirit. At the same time, I sensed all three and yet Jesus was being very forward. Time draws near for His preeminence in the church. He is about to do house cleaning, gutting the structure of the church for a major remodel where church is about Him and evangelism. The old structures pushed aside for a restructuring. There is something about stepping aside to let Him be who He is. John the Baptist said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Our priorities individually and corporately are about to be reorganize. He said evangelism was about testifying to the reality of His presence that He’s alive and real. Telling our story. “For the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus.” – Revelations 9. A great, great harvest of souls is at hand. I was outside on my deck and saw in a vision about 1/2 dozen or more huge angels 100 feet tall and apparently these were no ordinary angels, but great and powerful ones. I asked them what was their purpose. They said, “It’s time.” For several days I kept hearing the song At The Cross then Jesus What a Savior. Here are two Youtube videos of those songs. Enjoy. At The Cross

Jesus, What A Savior