Shalom!
Trust everyone had a blessed New Year! Well, mine was not only unexpected, but it was another great challenge and test, in the realm of my walk with the Lord. There are so many things I could talk about. But let’s face it it’s time to go beyond the words of man, beyond the thoughts and doctrines of religion, beyond the same super charged messages, that lead us to opening our eyes, but leaves us with receiving nothing. Conversion without regeneration. Acts 26:18. Salvation means that we are being brought to the place where we can receive something from God, on the authority of Jesus. Then after follows the 2nd mighty work of grace,”and inheritance among them which are sanctified.” What has all this got to do with too much prophetic? Well, I believe like most everyone these days the prophetic or word from God in the form of the “Ruach Hakodesh”, or Holy Spirit, is valuable to the body of Christ, but not any more valuable than it was in the days of Jeremiah, Daniel, or Ezekiel, to name a few. Perhaps I could pose a controversial statement. Maybe the prophetic has been so used and abused by well meaning, and not so well meaning ministers of the word, that it is not only become a tool for acquiring great sums of cash flow, to a particular ministry, but also misleading people into believing that God has got it all covered anyway, and we as Yeshua believers, can just sit back and rest on the visions, and prophetic onslaughts of messages out there. But at last there is a much harder, more challenging, and more committed way to approach the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Number one is “obedience.” Obedience is a Kingdom minded act. If we choose not to obey God we make others pay the cost. When we are in love with Jesus, obedience should be an honor, and not cost us anything. I know from my own walk that when I do not obey God others are affected first and foremost. Luke 8:2-3. When we obey God we will have to know that others in some cases may not understand. But we have to and leave the consequences with God. Don’t ever tell God what you are willing or not willing to do in your “obedience” to Him. The Lord loves us unconditionally, so we must obey Him in the same manner. See also Luke 23:26. Number two is “worship.” Even if we have never felt or moved in the realm of the prophetic ourselves, I believe worship to God is most essential. Giving to God the best you have in worship unto Him, is knowing that He has given you the very best He has. We all want blessings from God, but do we continually want to bless Him? Don’t keep things for yourself, because it will, and can turn into spiritual dry rot. You have to give back to God what He has given to you, or it cannot bless others. Then in turn this blesses God. There cannot be three stages in our spiritual life. We jump at times from worship to waiting, and from waiting to work.The Lord could possibly want us to combine these. They were a part of Jesus life. Should we not try to parallel our lives to that of Christs? Should we not attempt to image the prophets of old who sought after the Holy Spirit? Genesis 12:8 Bethel is a symbol of communion with God and Ai is the symbol of the world. Abraham pitched his tent between the two. {Please read.} And for now number three, “sacrifice.” Heres where I would like to use a recent experience of mine for an example of this word. After a very trying Holiday season, I had endured just about all, I thought I could. My Dad, had suddenly died on Dec. 14th. I began to allow some thoughts to absorb, into my flesh, and before long my thoughts became a spoken word, and I began to speak in terms, only to myself, that perhaps it was that God wanted a sacrifice of death. I began to become weakened in my spirit, and eventually it became evident that I was experiencing a very real physical reaction to this misguided thought. See Genesis 22:9. Not that we are wanting or willing to go to death with Him, but rather be identified with His death, so that we can sacrifice our lives to God. We have to unhinder our lives, so that we can identify with the death of Jesus. We then can enter in to a real relationship with Him. To be a”living sacrifice”. To give up all your powers that have been saved and sanctified through Jesus. Remember, as I have continually reminded myself that as we decrease, the Lord will increase. There is nothing greater or harder than laying down our own agendas and desires, to be “obedient”, “worshipful”, and to give ourselves as a “living sacrifice” to our Lord Jesus. Have we come so far as believers that we have left behind in our own knowledge, the true way to have a fruitful, and personal relationship with Christ. Mark 4:34 says “When they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples.” Get alone with God, and He will reveal His heart to you, when you give Him yours. The prophetic will take a back seat anytime, to getting close to the heart of our Lord Jesus.