What Atlantic hurricane season?

You hav to admit something good is happening… surely?

2008

• Total cost: ~ $41.934 billion (2008 USD)
• Fatalities: 855 direct, 192 indirect

2009

• Total cost: US$103,000
• Fatalities: 5 direct

Only 1 hurricane, Claudette, made landfall…

The track for all storms…

The timeline of the season. Take note of the quiet October and November. The peak of the season is at the end of September…

This is only made possible because of the cross of Jesus Christ! And it is fulfillment of prophecy made by God, here, in 2008.

A savings of US$41 billion… and there is so much more to come as the healthcare bill is slashed because of the end of sin and death. Incredible things are to come.

Hmmm… how much would a tithe on US$41 billion be? That would help me put petrol in my car and put food on my table. Get my own place to live. Actually get a car. Get a phone of my own. Afford to make calls.

Sigh.

More good news for South Africa – food prices drop

My heart is totally for South Africa – and of course also for people of the world. I spend countless hours praying and interceding and worrying about the needs of people.

I especially try to think of solutions – real and natural ones, plus faith filled ones – for the poor and those living in poverty. 40% of this country lives in poverty.

As regular readers will know, I am always looking for God’s words to be followed by signs and wonders… meaning… real proof of change, not just emotional excitement. And so when I see change, I don’t usually report it to you (dear reader) until several months have passed and the trend is clearly set.

And here is something that I think confirms God’s words and His intentions to do good to South Africa. This directly affects the poorest people, when food prices drop.

Weekend Argus Shopping Basket

Just look at that graph. The trend is down down down, and steeply too! Like I said, I didn’t want to report this in the first or second month, I just watched and waited… I wanted to see a trend we can all agree is undeniable. Can we now agree that the trend is absolutely clear? Yes I think so.

For the skeptics you can find the article here. And here is the snapshot of that page, just in case it goes missing over the years to come…

I am absolutely delighted that God is blessing this nation in real and tangible ways.

I delight myself in you Lord Jesus. You are the solution to our struggles. May Your Name be glorified and lifted up like a banner so that everyone can find the highway back to our Father God.

Pass through, pass through the gates!
Prepare the way for the people.
Build up, build up the highway!
Remove the stones.
Raise a banner for the nations.
- Is 62:10

Yesterday was a day of salvations… get used to it, plan for it

One of the things I love about Facebook is that I can link up with ministries around the world. If something happens there I get to hear about it. Yesterday – Tuesday – should have been just like any other day. But something happened. 260 salvations in Haiti, 2 more in Australia, one here in South Africa. And that’s all on one day. It wasn’t a day like all the others after all. But it will become the norm.

The time is drawing near for leaders of churches to draw up plans for bringing in the lost and cleaning them up.

In the last few days I had an idea that every time we baptise someone, we should allocate a team of 3 or 4 to help that person integrate into the church, into the community. The enemy doesn’t like losing ground, so that team would pray frequently for the newly born person. We must change how we do church. SEND out your evangelists. Start the process of fishing, share the gospel because it is the power for salvation.

It’s no longer time to be inwardly focussed, hunkered down until the storm has passed, focussed on survival… instead it is now time to be outwardly focussed… the storm has passed, the sun is shining and people are coming into the light. It’s not business as usual.

What ARE you going to do with all these new converts? How will you care for them? How will you protect them? How will you clean them up? These are some of the things you need to start thinking about.

Smith Wigglesworth prophesied this coming revival

This is exiting stuff…

TWO DISTINCT MOVES
During the next few decades there will be two distinct moves of the Holy Spirit across the church in Great Britain. The first move will affect every church that is open to receive it and will be characterized by a restoration of the baptism and gifts of the Holy Spirit. The second move of the Holy Spirit will result in people leaving historic churches and planting new churches. In the duration of each of these moves, the people who are involved will say ‘This is the great revival’. But the Lord says ‘No, neither is this the great revival but both are steps towards it. - Source

Yes I agree that things have happened which were preparatory…

WORD AND SPIRIT
When the new church phase is on the wane, there will be evidenced in the churches something that has not been seen before: a coming together of those with an emphasis on the Word and those with an emphasis on the Spirit.

When the Word and the Spirit come together, there will be the biggest movement of the Holy Spirit that the nation, and indeed the world, has ever seen. It will mark the beginning of a revival that will eclipse anything that has been witnessed within these shores, even the Wesleyan and the Welsh revivals of former years. - Source

This combination is important, because yes both have been seen previously, but this time around we will be seeing fulfillment of ancient Isaiah prophecy from 2500 years ago, and it will come about through prophetic declaration. So the move of the Holy Spirit will be connected with the written and declared words of God.

“… Shutting his eyes again, he said, ‘I see the greatest revival in the history of mankind coming to Planet earth, maybe as never before. And I see every form of disease healed. I see whole hospitals emptied with no one there. Even the doctors are running down the streets shouting.’

“He told me that there would be untold numbers of uncountable multitudes that would be saved. No man will say ’so many, so many,’ because nobody will be able to count those who come to Jesus. No disease will be able to stand before God’s people… ‘It will be a worldwide situation, not local,’ he said, ‘a worldwide thrust of God’s power and God’s anointing upon mankind.’

“Then he opened his eyes and looked at me and said, ‘I will not see it, but you shall see it. The Lord says that I must go on to my reward, but that you will see the mighty works that He will do upon the earth in the last days.’ – Source

That is precisely what I see coming – a complete change to our society. The end of death, because sin has been dealt with by the Lamb of God on the cross. We Christians will receive this truth “by/through faith”. The effect of this change will be felt everywhere and by everyone. In fact, it already has been felt and will continue to be felt.

Religions expected it

Curiously many other religions also see this change coming, but they deny that it is the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Native American Prophecy. Peter Deunov “Propos on the Future” – 1944. Shari Arison, Israel’s richest woman. Expectation of the reappearance of the Imam Mahdi is at an all time high, he is/was expected to bring a complete pece to the Earth. Several native South and Central American religions pointed to a change in the Earth at about the year 2000+ and there are several prophecies in Tibet that also point to this change.

So as this change comes upon us, we can expect quite some confusion between religions as they all claim the prize is theirs and not someone else’s. But the change has begun and it is happening only because of the words of the bible. There is no other possible explanation of why the words of the bible exactly mirror what is occurring.

God even saw the need to pre-pre-pre-prepare some words for this event, pointing out all the way back then that no one was able to forsee what will happen. Check it out…

so that people may see and know,
may consider and understand,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
that the Holy One of Israel has created it.

²¹ “Present your case,” says the LORD.
“Set forth your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.

²² “Bring in your idols to tell us
what is going to happen.

Tell us what the former things were,
so that we may consider them
and know their final outcome.
Or declare to us the things to come,

²³ tell us what the future holds,
so we may know that you are gods.

Do something, whether good or bad,
so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.

²⁴ But you are less than nothing
and your works are utterly worthless;
he who chooses you is detestable.

²⁵ “I have stirred up one from the north, and he comes—
one from the rising sun who calls on my name.
He treads on rulers as if they were mortar,
as if he were a potter treading the clay.

²⁶ Who told of this from the beginning, so we could know,
or beforehand, so we could say, ‘He was right’?

No one told of this,
no one foretold it,
no one heard any words from you.

²⁷ I was the first to tell Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’
I gave to Jerusalem a messenger of good tidings.

²⁸ I look but there is no one—
no one among them to give counsel,
no one to give answer when I ask them.

²⁹ See, they are all false!
Their deeds amount to nothing;
their images are but wind and confusion.
- Is 41:20-29

It’s hard to imagine those words were written 2500 years ago, just to counter an argument that would be raised 2500 years later!

This is a harsh truth and it cuts deeply. But it is nevertheless truth and it must be heard and understood… that the events we are living in today, the rivers and lakes in Australia, the financial collapse and restoration… it was all foretold in accurate detail 2500 years ago. No other religion has been able to do that.

To go against this is futility, it is happening and it will continue to happen.

³⁸Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. ³⁹But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.” – Acts 5:34-39

There is nothing to be afraid of. Every religion is looking forward to this time of change. There is nothing to fight or resist, it is a wonderful thing that Jesus Christ has done for us all… so let’s focus on the positives… it is a wonderful time of deliverance and release for a global population which has been living in suffering for thousands of years.

You can read about these prophecies and their fulfillment here…

Book: 2008-9 Prophecies and Miracles v2 (3MB) – A collection of all blog posts relating to the prophecies and fulfilled miracles during my stay in Australia. <100 pages. Feedback welcome!

Third Day – Wired radio online

Are you a Third Day fan? Would you like to listen to songs from over 400 shows and their commentary for each song? Wait no more… wired radio online.

Reinhard Bonnke is blogging via Facebook!

I absolutely feel that the churches must take action and organise to send out their evangelists. Now is the time. The greatest harvest is coming in the next years and it is the power of the gospel that saves. So we need to send out our evangelists to speak the gospel. As they do that, it will be the turn of the pastors to swing into action, caring for the newly saved people.

And because the church has muddled up all the gifts and very seldom sends anyone out, other than missionaries, we need to study what the bible says of evangelists and what their role is. As the people begin coming in, we will have to study what it means to be a pastor – caring, comforting, home visits.

But on the topic of evangelism… we can also learn from bright lights that God has set amongst us. Have you seen that Reinhard Bonnke is blogging via Facebook!?

My dear Friends, my FB Page is to me personal ministry. I really pray for you all and take it serious. May I please ask you for a favor? If you actively at least read these NOTES and POSTS, would you please let me know – give me “a sign of life”? That would mean a lot to me. With dedication + love, REINHARD BONNKE.

His Facebook page is here and it is visible and readable even to non-Facebook members: Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke – Official Page

“The greatest outpouring, the greatest anointing of God’s power ever known, is coming upon us. Past revivals will seem as nothing when Pentecost breaks upon the entire Church.”

He is writing excellent stuff. His most recent item “The Cross affected the Throne” is his most powerful yet. I can’t recommend it enough. I beg you, read that post: The Cross affected the Throne

This is a man who God is using to lead MILLIONS of people into salvation, spiritual freedom and directly into local churches. He know what he is writing about. His wisdom and passion is evident. I can’t recommend his writing enough.

Here is a selection of quotes from his writings:

The Scriptures are with us today by virtue of being the “very words of God” (Rom. 3:2), not because the Church preserved them. The Bible preserved the Church! Living things don’t need to be preserved; only dead things are placed in preserving fluids. Not so? Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE.

The gospel gives to all who will receive it the dignity of children of God. Men who once were savages are reclaimed and walk as princes. What a reason to preach the gospel! Could anything be more thrilling, adventurous and worthwhile? What else is worth your life’s effort? Nothing less than the salvation of this world is at stake. We follow His footsteps! Are YOU with us? Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE.

An evangelist is an opportunist. He doesn’t wait for opportunities, he creates them. He doesn’t strike the iron WHILE it is hot, but UNTIL it is hot – and then keeps on striking. He doesn’t have a glory-party when the walls of Jericho have fallen, but crawls over the rubble, sword in hand, to deliver every street and house. Blessed? REINHARD BONNKE.

“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither…” (Psalm 1, 3) Did you notice? Your LEAF, your health, your strength, your marriage, your child, your business – SHALL NOT wither. This Word is for YOU today. Lay hold on it and let me know please. Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE.

One man filled with the Holy Spirit is sometimes better than a hundred committees, which, ‘keep minutes but lose hours.’ When God so loved the world He did not form a committee, but sent His Son, and His Son sent the Holy Spirit. Christ said that believers are the light of the world, but it needs the Holy Spirit to switch them on. And then, watch out! Agreed? Tell me. REINHARD BONNKE.

The Gospel does not threaten sinners. It is glad news, not mad news. Yet Jesus talked more about hell than heaven – not as a THREAT but as a WARNING. There is something I’d call MILITANT MERCY. When a fast moving car approaches a child, we would snatch it from danger. It may be rough, but it is true mercy. That’s what Jesus does! HE SAVES. Happy? REINHARD BONNKE.

David strikes me as the one man in the OT who knew what it meant to be anointed. He was gripped by the fact that God was with him. He went to challenge Goliath. It was entirely in the assurance that he was anointed. He did not ask Samuel to anoint him again. He didn’t ask anybody to pray for him. He had been anointed and so was anointed – it was a timeless fact. David was ready. Are you? Blessings, REINHARD BONNKE

Now click through to even more good stuff…

• Holiness is NOT Power
• God has NO two kinds of Fire
• We are not generators, but conductors
• Faith transfers the power of God to wherever it is needed (Luke 17,6)
• UNFADING ANOINTING
• God never works at half power
• Only that which is God’s will is possible
• Jesus commands the impossible and then makes it possible
• RE-DIGGING THE WELL OF HEALING? (Gen 26:15—18)
• Looking for a New Anointing?
• Releasing God’s Power of Salvation
• Any doctrine that doesn’t lend itself as conductor of the power of God is a waste of time
• BIBLE PROPHECIES ARE HISTORY IN ADVANCE

A few more quotes…

A newspaper attacked me once and spread a lot of lies. My friends urged me to respond. But when I started to pray the Lord spoke to me. “You are my harvest-worker. Don’t stop the combine-harvester just to catch a mouse!” I was stunned! Since then my answer is always the same – the next Gospel-Crusade! Agreed? REINHARD BONNKE.

I am immune to the criticisms of man, because I am immune to the praise of man. This is my personal testimony and recommendation. Blessed? REINHARD BONNKE.

Breaking out of empty and hollow feelings – design your life!

I have been learning and realizing some things over the last few months.

After the initial excitement of being back in South Africa and sharing with family again, I have found a dramatic drop in my levels of feeling energetic. I had to pause and think again and again at what was missing. Was it hope? Why was my energy lower? I seemed lack-luster, sapped. My addictive behavior had spiked upwards quite dramatically.

I checked my food and drinking habits… I don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t do drugs. What was going on? Why was I reacting like this? Good things also happened.

After years of being poorly treated in Australia, I was now master of my own ship and enjoying the freedom that usually comes with democracy. I’m able to speak without people telling me I can’t, I can make friends with whoever and wherever and whenever I want.

Breakthrough to emotions… getting the juices flowing

I finally came to a moment when I finally cried deeply and vented my sadness at what I had experienced, the people I had lost and especially at the relationship I wanted to have with one particular person which was never allowed/permitted to happen. I cried. I wept. Then a few days later I felt deep hatred and wanted vengeance for what I had been put through.

Denial-anger-grief-acceptance (a more limited version of the full Kübler-Ross grief model) is the normal cycle to go through when adjusting to trauma and loss…

1. Denial — “I feel fine.”; “This can’t be happening, not to me.”
   
2. Anger — “Why me? It’s not fair!”; “How can this happen to me?”; “Who is to blame?”
   
3. Bargaining — “Just let me live to see my children graduate.”; “I’ll do anything for a few more years.”; “I will give my life savings if…”
4. Depression — “I’m so sad, why bother with anything?”; “I’m going to die . . . What’s the point?”; “I miss my loved one, why go on?”
   
5. Acceptance — “It’s going to be okay.”; “I can’t fight it, I may as well prepare for it.”
   

I felt led to read the psalms and saw so much of David’s own anger and desire for vengeance in his writings. So many psalms spoke to me, the one that He spoke directly to me Psalm 35 had the identical feelings in it as I had.

¹ Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.

² Take up shield and buckler;
arise and come to my aid.

⁴ May those who seek my life
be disgraced and put to shame;
may those who plot my ruin
be turned back in dismay.

⁵ May they be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the LORD driving them away;

⁶ may their path be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.

⁷ Since they hid their net for me without cause
and without cause dug a pit for me,

⁸ may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

⁹ Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD
and delight in his salvation. – Psalm 35

Before reading this, I had not realized how much anger (and even perhaps hatred) that King David had felt.

And as you would expect there were some psalms were from the Lord telling David to forgive. Sigh. Always with the forgiving. For the first time I really saw the humanity of David, and of course the compassion of God for human beings.

Anger. Hatred. These are all normal human emotions and this time was a sign of me healing. Sadness and loss… to have these feelings is better than to NOT have them. To not have them is to not be human. To have them is to function as a real live person who has working emotions.

Embrace your emotions about what happened in your past. It’s ok. When these feelings are felt and they pass you will experience new thoughts, new dreams, new hopes.

Going back to old patterns

I think that facing my suppressed emotions created an openness, an opportunity to connect with other aspects of my thinking and feelings. I really wanted to deal with the addictive behavior and the emptiness… I needed to understand them and to learn how to stop them. I did another inventory… I checked my faith, my prayer life, my thought life… all seemed ok. And yet I felt an intertia. Why?

And then it came to me. Being around my family had reminded me of the patterns of my youth. I looked at them more closely. Do these people live? Really live? I don’t mean party, I mean do they connect with people? Do they know about community? How much warmth is there in their lives? Do they have a sense of self… a self that needs to be protected? I noticed a strong and unhealthy fear of authorities, an unhealthy desire to avoid conflict, a desire to have peace at all costs, seeing isolation as a solution to many problems.

Everything you know, you learned from someone

Just think about it… babies start like this… with nothing and no concept of anything. They are empty. Emptiness is a very common feeling in modern society…

And everything they learn about themselves, someone told them. If they got told the wrong thing, then that is what they learned and now they think it. Child soldiers in war simply do what they are told.

They get abducted from their families and they get retrained and told new “truths” and they become warriors. The movie Blood Diamond showed some of that retraining taking place. In the picture to the left, the father has found his son and rescued him from the guerrillas who had retrained him into being a child warrior.

The fact is that until we take charge of our lives, until then we are the product of what was put into us as children and young adults. Taking charge means assessing who you are, what you are good at, what you want to do.

Everything you think you know, you learned from someone. You learned it from wonderful people, from abusive people, from the bible, from fire-and-brimstone preachers, from religious teachers, from warm kind caring pastors.

Children have to be taught how to live. Food, identity, warm clothes, emotional warmth, feelings of safety – it all has to be PUT into them. They can’t do anything for themselves.

In that same way, they have to be prepared for life. They can only learn and be ready for adulthood, if their parents consciously chose to prepare them. A baby is born with absolutely no knowledge and no skills. They can’t find the kitchen, can’t make food, can’t speak english and ask for what they need. Nothing! Everything that baby gets – food, warmth, skills – comes from the people around that baby and especially from the parents.

I’m thinking about how much my friend Caryn planned her preparation of her son for his entry into the public domain. She literally made a list of skills that he needed to have in place for him to be able to make it work. She made a list and she worked with him on it and ticked them off as he learned them. There are certain skills a person needs to make life work ad someone needs to teach them to us… or we have to go and learn them for ourselves.

Playing games like “The Sims” can teach some of these skills, like looking in a newspaper for a job and then applying for the job… because if you don’t, then you don’t have income… and if you don’t have income, then you will not have lots and lots of things needed for living.

But “The Sims” cannot teach hundreds and thousands of life lessons that people need to learn in order to live socially. That only comes by practise and experience.

Desensitised to life

And this was what I figured out. My family was not social. My father is not attached. My mother is not attached. Being conveniently near a person often enough to talk to them doesn’t mean you are emotionally attached to that person.

I also saw that I had not been prepared for life. Life lessons were not passed on. Things other people learn were not taught to me. It’s not just that I was emotionally and physically unsafe as a youngster, but I was uncared for. I know this because even now as an adult when I talk about the ghastly experiences I went through, few people react with horror… they simply don’t have that kind of emotional attachment. As a friend said to me about his lack of interest towards other people “I just don’t give a shit”.

One of the things I noticed in Australia was the level of care and concern people had for one another. Simple stories that get no reaction here – which is what I thought was normal – would get visible reactions of shock there. I was literally astounded as I realized that my stories were deeply upsetting to people. I didn’t know that before seeing their reaction, because I grew up in a family where you could tell the closest person to you that you have been abused and their will react with a one-line statement and never comment on the issue again.

So what had been happening to me after I returned? I was slowly adjusting back to how it was before. Less care for people. Less shock-and-horror reactions to things.

Yes there are real reasons for why South Arican society is so desensitized to what should shock us. In our society extreme trauma is normal to see. I grew up hearing bomb explosions in my suburb. I thought nothing of it. What is normal for us, is extra-ordinary for safe societies like Australia. So in Australia my personal stories seemed utterly shocking to my best friend Michael. I was fortunate that I could learn from his reaction, I had no idea what normal was.

I have returned to South Africa more sensitized to what is normal and ok in a healthy society.

But now being in close proximity to family members trapped in old behaviour patterns, I was being reminded of my former “it doesn’t matter” and “I don’t matter” – style of thinking. But it was more than that. Living with family was reminding me of the inertia that I grew up in. Our family didn’t have strong ties amongst ourselves, nor with the extended family around us. The warmth that I learned to experience with friends in Australia was absent in our family. I truly didn’t know about inner warmth until God healed me – and I’ve written about that on this blog site.

From OUTside to inside

Think again about that baby. All the arrows point inwards. As it lies there newly born, naked, it’s inner temperature is dropping… that has never happened before! It had come from a world in which the temperature was provided by the womb, but now it is outside the womb… the temperature is not guaranteed.

Now it has to be maintained by a willing care giver. And the baby has no concept of it’s own needs, it cannot figure out what cold is and pull the blanket over. That will take YEARS to learn. In the womb the baby’s emotions would have synched to the mother, but now outside, it synchs to her through cuddling and comforting. If there is no comfort, then the baby cannot moderate it’s own emotions.

Everything was automatically provided in the womb, but then it becomes available only when someone takes time to care for the baby. If the care giver is drunk or stoned or emotionally absent, then the baby has no capacity to care for itself. And as the years go by, the ability of a baby to care for itself will make all the difference. As a young boy and then a teen, the desire is usually there to do it for yourself. Abuse and lack of care in the home can upset this normal situation, and the inner drive for independence may not develop.

In a healthy family the normal and valid emotions of family members are accepted and acknowledged. Independance is encouraged as well as monitored to ensure it doesn’t go too far ahead of the emotional abilities of the young person. In a co-dependant family, emotions are not permitted. Self defense – a very useful life skill – may also be supressed and not learned. Many skills needed for life may not be learned in such a family.

If this happens, then a young person may hit adulthood without having learned the skills he or she needs to have in order to live a productive life, so they might be stuck in old patterns. If they learned passivity as a young person, they may remain passive as an adult – never really living a full life.

Basic life skills

The basic skills that an adult needs to live a healthy life may include some of these things.

Be able to…

• connect with other people in supportive communities (sharing food, communication, support, protection)
• identify what you need and find a resource somewhere to meet that need (find money, physical or emotional)
• know your strengths and weaknesses enough to be able to identify opportunities you can achieve at and avoid situations you repeatedly fail at
• have a sense of hope and optimism that you can learn new tricks and new skills – and put this into action in daily life to develop new opportunities
• identify all the basic ingredients needed to maintain a normal life, and the discipline to keep doing those things
• learn enough about yourself to know your needs and wants, and to know what your own boundaries are, know how many people you want around yourself, how close, how intimate etc.
• learn enough about other people to understand their needs and wants and their boundaries, and how to connect and communicate with them etc.
• listening to your inner sense or intuition for signs of nearby danger or situations to avoid

In all of these things, these lessons are learned by LIVING life. We walk, we fall down, we learn, we walk a bit more, falling less because we learned.

When we are a baby, all these lessons are GIVEN to us as advice from adults around us. As we grow up we are encouraged to figure them out for ourselves, caring people ask us “what do YOU think” and encourage us “give it a try”. We are able to learn in safety. Like with training wheels on a bike, adults watch us and remove the wheels when we can handle it.

To be a successful adult we need to do these things for ourselves without adult direction. Ideally we have already been doing them for ourselves for a while. Through repeatedly trying, failing, trying, succeeding – practise makes perfect – we come to a place of mastering the basic ingredients for life.

From INside to outside – outwards

But in adulthood we leave our parents and cleave to that special someone. Cleaving-and-leaving can be almost impossible if some of those basic lessons – boundaries, knowing yourself, reading other people, having intuition about impending trouble – without these we can’t find a suitable mate, we can’t communicate successfully with the person, we can’t find a balance between their needs and ours.

And because the demands of adulthood include caring for a family, paying a morgage, debts, growth, stress… we really need those skills to be in place. In adulthood the arrows don’t point inwards any more, they point OUTwards FROM you towards society. Unless you have the skills to find and connect into a caring community, you are not likely to be surrounded by positive INput.

But you are an adult now… you have to find the answers yourself and act on them.

They key is to understand that what used to come TO you from outside, now needs to come from INside you. So for example

• Where you used to get good advice, you now need to give yourself good advice
• Where other people calmed you and listened to you, you need to do this for yourself
• Where other people told you what you are good at and encouraged you, you now need to do this for yourself

How many people aren’t learning life skills?

It’s more common than you think… take these 2005 statistics for South Africa…

• In South Africa 41%, or 7.3 million children from birth to 17 years, do not live with an employed person in the same household – and therefore are not able to learn about job hunting and maintaining a CV and upgrading work skills
• In the Limpopo province, for example, has a poverty rate of 83% – and this might mean that children and growing up without the ability to care for themselves. Yougn girls may not be able to afford to pay for tampons and other personal needs. Basic skills can’t be learned in poverty.
• 22% of children were resident with neither biological parent – in this situation skills aren’t transferred from a caring parent. Identity and self image cannot be nurtured and developed.
• Half of households reported having insufficient food at times – this is another time during which a young person learns negative lessons about life, safety and self care.

Sources:

• Children in households with an employed adult
• Children residing with biological parents
• The impact of HIV and AIDS on Africa

Is it any wonder that I pray so hard and so much for revival and a complete change to society through the outpouring of His Spirit? Nothing else promises to help us all as much as He is promising to. You can read more about this prayer here: Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high

What’s the problem?

The problem is that if people don’t learn these skills, then they simply keep living as they did as children or young adults. Their hands remain open to receiving, their hearts always looking for people to speak INTO them.

But time has marched on, and they are at an age where they ARE able to make their own way in the world… if they can just develop the skills to do so.

For example, one successful strategy to survive an abusive household is to remain passive and hidden. Not many life skills will be learned while the person remains in this strategy. But as an adult, that strategy is no longer needed. The person can take charge and live a completely different and more assertive life. What is needed is for the person to abandon survival skills learned in childhood, and to adopt completely new and different ways of living.

And that can be very tough to make that change from a strategy that you used for 10 years, over to an unknown new behavior. The saying goes, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. I’m saying to you, give up the strategy that you have in your hand – passivity, isolation, violence – and take the chance that you can learn to walk a completely new life and learn completely new things.

For sure you want to know about the birds in the bush… before you put down the bird in your hand. But the problem is, these new skills have to be learned, and they are learned by walking and falling and learning and then walking a bit better because we learned.

Going forward from here – consciously

Remain as you are OR change. Change means making a life that you want and like. getting to know what you want can be difficult. The exact phrase “I want” is biblical… it occurs 31 times in the New Testamant in the NIV and 63 times in The Message. Clearly people wanted things in the New Testament, so I’m sure it’s fine for you to want things too.

When you get in touch with what you want, then work on getting to know yourself and your inner world… in this way you will make new dreams, new friends who have the same energy levels as you, new hopes and new plans. And then go ahead and actually DO those things.

And let me leave you with this final and encouraging truth…

The most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss, and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassions, gentleness and a deep loving concern. Beautiful people do not just happen.” — by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

That is the same lady who made the Kübler-Ross grief model, also known as the 5 stages of grief.

Keep reading… more posts you may enjoy

• Your personal bill of rights **
• Why does the bible say to love yourself? **
• Getting out of depression (learned helplessness) by learning to be optimistic **
• Heal your identity – it will help to fill the emptiness inside
• Christian burn out cycle
• How to make decisions
• God has a plan to prosper you… what to do while you wait
• How to fill up the lonely hurt inside
• What to do when you’re feeling empty inside

Donations gladly accepted

Just a quick reminder that you are very welcome to support this ministry. Email me: markrobertwilson@gmail.com

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high

You may know that I am expecting this to occur any day now…

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. – Is 32:15-18

and this post is to show that the signs are good that this is already coming down the pipeline… it’s happening now!

From America

Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke – Official Page… “The greatest outpouring, the greatest anointing of God’s power ever known, is coming upon us. Past revivals will seem as nothing when Pentecost breaks upon the entire Church.”

Rodney Morgan Howard-Browne Great harvest of Souls – Sunday am alone 149 decisions for Christ – wow – thank you Jesus – This year we have seen 57,094 decisions – thank you Jesus.

MAN RAISED FROM THE DEAD – Is it a medical mystery or a miracle? A South Florida man pronounced dead from a massive heart attack and then brought back to life. His doctor says the man was raised from the dead by a simple prayer.

From Wales

Jason Westerfield – “I’m just trying to figure out who’s been praying for revival all these years and if they’re in the room? Because if anyone actually heard the words I’m saying right now, you’d realise all the hours and months and hours and years, and maybe decades that went into all your prayers in one day God can change it. It happened today! Do you recognise your Day of Visitation. And it didn’t happen in here (in the meeting) it happened right out in the Assembly.” It ’s not coming anymore, you’re not birthing, it happened, it is done, it is finished! Experientially Kingdom reality in heaven and the earth and over the land and over the world, and its over the earth casting a shadow of life and light and of the open heavens of God’ glory over the nation of Wales. It is finished!!!

From Uganda

From Colin Walker: A brief update on some of the salvations and healings we’ve seen here in northern Uganda; over 70 salvations in the last one week, and I think about 30 healings – most of which occur after people accept Jesus, but also a lot are healed first and then the instant miracle is enough to convince them to accept God. Saw 5 people saved last Sat., including a 60 year old women who’d been bedridden for about 10 years and hadn’t managed to walk the 3m outside her front door.

From South Africa

From Bruce Torrance:  Guess what – a young muslim lady was not a happy camper, in a lot of pain, passing blood due to a kidney infection. Asked if I could pray for her, and did so in Jesus’ name (Wednesday, in the office) and by nightfall the pain was gone! No more bleeding and tossing and turning in the night due to that pain, and when I spoke to her this morning she was full of joy, absolutely delighted! She prayed to personally thank Jesus for healing her! She’s off to get checked out by the doctor on Saturday morning. Praise You Jesus for Your healing touch!

From Darren Richter:  lady healed out of wheel chair in mandeni and seeing plenty others on mission weekend we had up in amatikulku (natal north coast). Its now the norm to see healings every day and we wont stop until raising the dead and blind and deaf healed is a regular occurrence!!!!

These next 5 items are from Angus Buchan at Shalom Ministries in South Africa. Number 5 at the bottom shows the breakthrough. Each item is one month later and each one shows a dramatic increase in salvations…

1. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – October 2009 – I have just returned from George in the Southern Cape.  I saw something I have never seen before in my life.  On a Tuesday afternoon, a working day, the whole town came to a standstill, from the Mayor’s office right down to the school children.  They congregated at the Outeniqua Rugby Stadium.  There was in excess of 14000 people there, packed into the grandstands and on the field.  … As we concluded that meeting, many, many souls, up to two-thirds of the crowd, made first time commitments publically in the sight of everyone and especially in the sight of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter - September 09, Issue2 – I am absolutely ecstatic as I write this newsletter to you!  I have always said after each campaign, ‘Lord, you can’t outdo this one, this has got to be the best thing that has ever happened,’ and yet I have just returned from the ‘Kalahari campaign,’ first of all to see a packed out stadium and then to experience and witness something I have never experienced in 30 years of preaching.  On the challenge of the altar call, to see literally the whole stadium empty on to the rugby field to stand in front of the altar. (NOTE: It began raining in the Kalahari desert on the following Sunday!)
3. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – September 09, Issue1 – Jill just shared a special thing with me, her being an intercessor.  They were praying one night and they could actually smell the presence of Jesus.  It was as if He walked past them, they never saw or heard anything, they could just smell this strong, sweet, pungent, beautiful new smell.  She said it was like a mixture of orange blossom.
4. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – August 09 – We saw God move in a very unique way at the Vodacom rugby stadium in Bloemfontein on the 15^th of August. There was a very special presence of the Holy Spirit through the whole campaign and I want to thank God for all the organizers that took time, effort and put money into making it possible. Very rarely have I ever seen such attentive ears to the Word of God like I saw on that afternoon. 28 000 people. At times, when I paused while preaching, I could hear a pin drop yet there was the most amazing response.
5. Angus Buchan – Shalom Newsletter – July 09 – In the middle of the message a sudden wind blew through the stadium and I believe this was a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.  The following week the local prosecutors office was in disarray as people arrived wanting to drop charges and reconcile with one another.  This is indeed the fruit of revival.

Prophecy from Rachel Oram in England

Gods got a lot lined up for Cape Town
not just signs and wonders
but i believe
that the dead will be raised
deliverance will take place
the kingdom of God has already come to cape town
its just about to explode!
so get ready says the lord, GET READY
get your armour on
and get ready for their is a war, but JESUS is on your side
prepare your hearts for a miracle explosion
the enemy wont like it
but that’s part of it
he will attempt to attack
but u must not give up
or give in!
keep going
the victory and glory goes to Jesus!
He is always with u
to the end of the age
do not be afraid
for the Holy Spirit your comforter
will be with you
now and forever more
in Jesus name

Hes heard the crys
of your heart
to see revival coming to your nation
HE KNOWS

He’s seen the tears, hes seen the laughter and the joy
He’s knows that SA needs a revival
HE LONGS
to pour out his spirit
the time is here!!
He’s coming
He is moving towards SA
and He’s gonna strike hard!
He’s gonna show himself to u and others in a new and mighty way
He is moved with compassion
just like when Jesus wept over a city
He cries when he sees the hurting and the dying
and is moving

GOD IS ON THE MOVE

PEOPLE GET READY! JESUS IS COMING!!

and He’s coming
He’s coming with fire
and He’s coming with power
Shabababa!
whoa
He’s heard the church crying out
and He’s coming right now
to touch his church and touch his people
he loves you all so much
wow
Amen!

Churches! Send your evangelists out! Multiply!!

It’s time to begin to multiply and this is what you need to know about multiplication in a church…

“The gospel is the power of God unto salvation” – Rom 1:16

The foundation of prayer has been laid, you now need to get people out there, spreading the gospel – because THAT is what causes salvation.

In your church of 500 people there may be 50 or 100 who are gifted in sharing the gospel. All of us can do it, but these evangelists are gifted and designed by God to do it. Get them active, get them going. Now is the time.

Churches must radically change from being inwardly and safety focused – a safe place for young adults to find love and marry and have children in spiritual safety – to being outwardly focused and reaching to the lost. There is risk in that, you will be bringing in wild and woolly people with very different points of view. Some may be coming out of the occult and may bring all kinds of “gifts” which may mesmerise your cloistered and naiive brood.

Nevertheless, you need to reach out and evolve, because the prayer platform has been laid, now it is time to send out your people and have them gather the fish… by speaking the gospel.

Here is a small snippet from an excellent post that I recommend you read: Finney, Piper and Prayer?

Prayer and the Gospel

Finney:

Sometimes it happens that those who are the most engaged in employing truth, are not the most engaged in prayer…

Others err on the other side. Not that they lay too much stress on prayer. But they overlook the fact that prayer might be offered for ever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Because sinners are not converted by direct contact of the Holy Ghost, but by the truth, employed as a means. To expect the conversion of sinners by prayer alone, without the employment of truth, is to tempt God [meaning to put God to the test].

Piper:

Prayer is the power that wields the weapon of the word, and the Word is the weapon by which the nations will be brought to faith and obedience.

The front-line work of missions is the preaching of the word of God, the gospel. If this public act is displaced by prayer, the supremacy of Christ in the mission of the church will be compromised…

But even the power that comes from the Holy Spirit through prayer is in some sense the unique power of the word of God itself: “The gospel is the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Perhaps we should speak of prayer as God’s instrument to release the power of the gospel.

One of the points we must recognise is this: they overlook the fact that prayer might be offered for ever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Because sinners are not converted by direct contact of the Holy Ghost, but by the truth

So churches, you who long to be multiplied…

• get your sermons pointed outward,
• focus on the messages of the Book of Acts,
• make a 7 point sermon plan about how outreach with the gospel of truth is what brings multiplication,
• teach on walking in the way that God prepared for us beforehand,

and spend the tithe you receive in support of these brave individuals. That is what the tithe is for… the expansion of the Kingdom of God.

The heavens are open, the time is right, the harvest is ready… simply send the men and women who are warming your seats each week. 500 evangelists can each have 500 mini-outreaches. Help them, give them infrastructure and financial support to do their work. Gather around each of them as they begin to fish. The time is now. Throw out the nets, the prayer foundation has been laid.

Then get busy cleaning the fish as they come in. The current generation has had exposure to the occult far more extensively than you may think. So they will come in dripping with false gifts. This will be a time of growth for leadership and for seat warmers. Everyone will have to develop discernment. Quickly.

And have fun. Enjoy yourself. Revival is a time of growth and multiplication. Enjoy!

More peace changes… In that day?

Please don’t think I am excitedly waking up each day expecting to see major new peace developments. But when I do see these, I am encouraged…

• Peace talks bring change to Uganda
• Q&A: Uganda’s northern war
• Reaction to INLA renouncing violence

I certainly do live in hope that God will bless us with a single moment in time when everything changes. There are two precedents for this to actually happen, so if it did, I’d be the first to say “I TOLD YOU SO”. hehehe.

The first precedent is the very common Old Testament phrase “in that day”. There are 112 instances of that phrase in the KJV and 121 in the ASV. If you click those links you will notice that the phrase always refers to a specific single day. I like the AMP version and it has 100 instances. The first three are before Isaiah.

The next 44 instances of that phrase are in Isaiah alone! And there can be no doubt that they refer to a single day… which would be pretty spectacular don’t you think? Surely the whole world would have to acknowledge that something spectacular had happened and that only Isaiah’s writings from 2500 years ago could explain what had happened.

There are only 2 instances of that phrase in the New Testament. The balance are spread out in the books from the other prophets, and as you may know, many of them have the same or similar wording and are clearly pointing to the same day.

Running the War in Iraq By Major General Jim Molan

The second precedent is that we have perhaps already had a taste of what that sudden onslaught of peace could be like. This was in 2005…

Former Army Capt. Pete Hegseth…  “I was in Baghdad for five days without a shot being fired,” he said in a recent interview with TIME. “There used to be 20 to 25 bodies a night around the Dora market. But now, nothing,” he said. “It was eerie. It was odd.” – Time (and from his own blog)

The same account can be read in Australian Major General Jim Molan’s book “Running the War in Iraq” which also describes the same eerie calm that occured across the country for 3-5 days. Jim was in Iraq during 2004-2005.

(NOTE: The surge and long term dramatic drop in violence occured in 2008)

I think the changes that we are about to experience can best be described by God’s own words through Isaiah…

Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest.

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) will abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever. My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, in safe dwellings, and in quiet resting-places. – Is 32:15-18

The cause is God pouring out His Holy Spirit across the world. The resulting effect is dramatic peace across the world.

NOTE: I hesitate to note the next two verses. They indicate that at the same time as peace is coming to some people, something else is coming to other – unco-operative? – people.

On a totally different note, wouldn’t this be just AWESOME if this were true?! What happened to global warming?

Australian National Human Rights Consultation report chaired by Frank Brennan

God and Jesus Christ are constantly heard in the bible speaking about the need to be good, moral, to protect the weak and the helpless.

As regular readers will know, I rarely comment on political events, unless they are of exceptional impotance for the correct and free functioning of human society.

Enshrining good moral choices and behaviours in government should not be necessary… but realistically this is a fallen world and therefore it IS necessary. When the fabric of society and the functioning of government is unable to treat residents of their countries with common dignity and decency, then the sanctity and integrity of human beings must be legislated and protected.

Barack Obama’s election was of exceptional importance to turn back the tide of criminal behaviour in powerful governments, so I urged Christian people to pray about that.

This issue of establishing a culture of human rights in societies which were corrupted by George Bush, Dick Cheney, John Howard and Tony Blair (plus others) is of absolute importance, so I urge Christians to pray for this too.

Here are some articles written in Australia on this topic…

A fairer go for all – Frank Brennan – MORE than 40,000 people participated in the National Human Rights Consultation. Despite the burdens of the global financial crisis and the complexities of an emissions trading scheme, Australians are able to walk and chew gum at the same time. They are very interested in discussing the protection of human rights, even in times of economic uncertainty. The four-member consultation committee has now reported to government, making 31 recommendations. We spent four months traversing the country and attended 66 community round tables in 52 locations, from Christmas Island to Palm Island and from Thursday Island to Hobart.

That article was written by Frank Brennan, the architect of the Consultation Report. These next articles are written by other Australian writers…

Its aim is to entrench values enshrined in human rights ideology. Every vital institution is affected: public service, the parliament and the courts. For the the human rights lobby, with its long-run plan to transform Australia, this is an important start. – Human rights report poisoned chalice

Similarly, tough anti-terror laws allowing for detention without charge, and the locking up of asylum seekers’ children, may also have been scuttled, according to National Human Rights Consultation committee chair Frank Brennan. Tough anti-terror laws, introduced following the September 11 attacks in the United States, would also have been in trouble. “Eventually that legislation would end up before one of the superior courts and the court would then have the task … to interpret that law as consistently as possible with human rights.” – Australia close to a charter of rights

AUSTRALIA should introduce a human rights act to prevent discrimination, enshrine individual freedoms and ensure Federal Parliament remains committed to ”the fair go”, according to a historic review of the nation’s commitment to civil rights. – Human rights act promises a ‘fair go’

More than 35,000 submissions were received, but the Federal Opposition is not convinced that Australia wants a human rights act… He disagrees with the claim that a human rights act will be a triumph for the elites. “This is the largest community response in Australia’s history to any issue that’s been put to the public,” he said. “What this shows is that this is an issue that really does mobilise Australians generally; they care about the issue. They’ve often seen first hand that the system has failed them or someone they know and they want change.”…

Melbourne barrister Julian Burnside says Australia will have more credibility and leverage internationally if it adopts a human rights act. “In recent years, when Australia has spoken out about human rights matters, a substantial response from the international organisation has been ‘look at your own back garden’,” he said. – Human rights act ‘a triumph for elitists’

I feel strongly about this topic because my personal rights were disastrously and cruelly abused during my stay in Australia. I had no protection because the evil was being perpetrated by those with power. There was no higher power above them which I could appeal to. There was no guiding principle in the constitution that I could point to. I was helpless.

My story is not unique. It is a very common story and it is the defining characteristic of the dark years we have all just lived through – abuse of the individual by powerful people who were unrestrained by an inner moral code or compass.

This tide of darkness is what must not only be turned back, but it must be exposed to the light and then fenced in so it cannot resurface later during a time of public complacency, so that it can try to complete what it could not finish previously.

Changing leaders was step 1.

Now in step 2, let’s change the laws and ensure that this evil is never again perpetrated. We simply must move to a more open society in which power cannot be removed from people nor from democracy and used and abused in secret.

Step 3 would be to prosecute the people who did the evil, so that they do not entertain a “come back” scenario in which they plan to finish off what they started. Prosecuting the criminals also ensures future generations don’t succumb to the mindset that they too can “give it a go” and know that if they get caught red handed, then they too will be protected and not prosecuted.

More good news… an end to conflicts too!

This post contains information on fulfillment of two prophecies:

1. Manufacturing for South Africa
2. An end to wars

Manufacturing for SA

Ready for some good local news? First, you can read about the propehcy here: Manufacturing for South Africa and now read about the fulfillment as it happens…

SA PMI leaps, points to recovery… The key indicator of factory activity jumped to 48,0 last month from 39,3 in August, the second biggest leap in the index’s 10-year history.

September BCI the best level recorded since 2008… Business Confidence Index (BCI) improved notably to 85,5 in September 2009 from 83 in August 2009. The BCI is now 6.6 index points higher than the depressed level of 78.9 measured in March 2009.

South Africans upbeat, survey finds… According to the survey of 2000 adults conducted in June, 73% of them agreed they were positive about South Africa and its future, 19% disagreed and 8% said they didn’t know, TNS Research Surveys said in a statement. “This figure of 73% is well up on the February figure of 60% and the May figure of 68% — there has been an uninterrupted rise since the 56% achieved in November 2008.” The figure of 73% equals the previous high achieved in May 2006 and is an “encouraging return” to optimism that had fallen to an all-time low of 49% in mid-2008.

We need to keep this in context… in 2009…

The manufacturing sector shrunk by a record 22.1 percent in the first quarter. – Reuters

South Africa’s manufacturing output declined by a record 21.6% year-on-year in April – Engineering News

Back in 1 July 2009 the PMI was reported to be 3 points better. By August 2009 it was up to 39.3 points. Now it has jumped up to 48.3 points! “Signs of life in SA manufacturing sector as PMI posts big jump“

Watch this space people!! Go Jesus!!

End to conflicts

And on the “peace” front how about this? You can view the prophecy here…

• An end to conflicts and revival (1)
• An end to conflicts and revival… (2)

And here is a part of the fulfillment… read it an be amazed…

“We are still documenting the number of militants who surrendered and the number of weapons surrendered,” she said. – Nigeria amnesty Progress

Three of the Niger Delta’s militant leaders laid down their weapons over the weekend, the final days of a two-month amnesty period offered by President Umaru Yar’Adua to try to bring an end to years of unrest. For many of the fighters, who spent weeks or months at a time in camps deep in the creeks, it was a carnival atmosphere. High on whisky and locally-made gin, they rode the bonnets of cars and ran through Port Harcourt’s streets chanting. – Reuters

Another Nigerian militant leader has agreed to lay down his arms and halt fighting in the Niger Delta oil hub, under a government amnesty which expires Sunday. Government Ekpemupolo, popularly known as ‘Tompolo’, is the third and last known factional leader with links to Nigeria’s main armed group, the Movement for Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) to surrender. “I and my people are accepting the amnesty offer and we are going to work with the President to achieve the dreams of this country,” said the commander at a meeting with Nigerian President – PressTvForemost militant, Government Ekpemupolo, alias Tompolo yesterday broke down in tears as he handed over his weapons, saying it was not his wish to surrender them. – AllAfrica

This change is absolutely what I am expecting to see more of. Choose any conflict zone, or potential conflict zone, and watch… the “reign” of God’s grace will continue to increase and the “reign” of the twin powers of sin and death will continue to decrease in power.

These are the words of God…

“Now will I arise,” says the LORD. “Now will I be exalted; now will I be lifted up. – Is 33:10

You have heard [these things foretold], now you see this fulfillment. And will you not bear witness to it?

I show you specified new things from this time forth, even hidden things [kept in reserve] which you have not known. They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word], and not long ago; and before today you have never heard of them, lest you should say, Behold, I knew them! Yes, you have never heard, yes, you have never known; yes, from of old your ear has not been opened. – Is 48:6-8

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. – 2 Cor 4:7

And the good news just keeps on coming… The Violence Declines While The Headlines Persist

June 1, 2009: You’d never know it from reading the headlines, but wars continue to decline worldwide.

For years, Iraq was portrayed as a disaster until, suddenly, the enemy was crushed. Even that was not considered exciting enough to warrant much attention, and that story is still poorly covered by the mass media.

Same pattern is playing out in Afghanistan, where the defeats of the Taliban, and triumph of the drug gangs, go unreported and distorted.

Violence has also greatly diminished,  or disappeared completely, in places like  Sri Lanka, Iraq, Nepal, Chechnya,  Congo, Indonesia and Burundi. Even Afghanistan, touted as the new war zone, was not nearly as violent this past six months as the headlines would deceive you into believing.

That page contains excellent per-country information. I will list a few highlights here…

1. HAITI Technically at peace.
2. INDONESIA Basically at peace
3. IVORY COAST An uneasy truce continues. Elections are about to occur.
4. SRI LANKA Tamils (the LTTE) were crushed… basically at peace.
5. UGANDA Religion and tribalism combine to create a persistent rebellion in the north, which was aided by Sudan. But now the northern rebels have been worn down, and the unrest is just about done with.

I freely admit that this list is small. But now we could almost add another eight countries to that list of 5…

1. We could add Nigeria
2. The DRC is almost ready to go on that list too, they even have elections occurring!
3. Rwanda and the great lakes region is at peace (at last!)
4. Darfur (Sundan) is reported by the UN to be at peace
5. Madagascar has political problems, but doesn’t have civil war, it could be added to that list.
6. India and Pakistan are no longer threatening one another with nuclear weapons.
7. Nepal has political problems, but the war with the Maoist rebels has stopped.
8. Israel is not currently at war with any surrounding country (Jordan, Syria, Egypt etc.) and even has no ongoing fighting with the West Bank. Gaza is not quiet, but seems to have quietened down.

Yes there is a long way to go, and this is just a start. But what a great start! Please listen to these words…

You are My witnesses, says the Lord,

and My servant whom I have chosen,

Before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no Savior.

I have declared [the future] and have saved [the nation in times of danger], and I have shown [that I am God]–

when there was no strange and alien god among you; therefore you are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God.

Yes, from the time of the first existence of day and from this day forth I am He; and there is no one who can deliver out of My hand.

I will work, and who can hinder or reverse it? – Is 43:10-13

Seek first the righteousness that Jesus Christ HAS provided

Now that I have come through this time of oppression and testing, I am looking at scripture with a simplicity… perhaps a childlike simplicity… and it just seems so obvious to me.

For example, if Jesus Christ said “here are the keys to heaven on earth” and then He presented us with the keys… then why on earth do we spend our time doing any prayer apart from those keys? It’s so simple. It’s like a dad coming to his teenage son saying “son, I’m giving you my card and the pin”… what do you expect to see next? For sure the son will go withdraw cash and use that cash. When he runs out, he goes to withdraw more. So why isn’t the church withdrawing like crazy? Our Lord and Master told us what the keys are… why isn’t this world full of heaven here on earth?

Another thing that seems so obvious to me now… seek first the righteousness…

Matt 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Sin released death into this world and we are trapped in this mess. As Isaiah says, the devil won’t let his captives return to God (Is 14:12-17). If sin is the problem then righteousness is the solution… but we cannot provide our own righteousness. But it is needed. And we can’t make it for ourselves.Our best efforts are dirty rags. So what do we do? How are we to be released from the clutches of the devil?

There are two profound references to the righteousness of God as revealed by Jesus Christ…

2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus Christ became sin… for us. And we became the righteousness of God.

Wow. Gulp. I thought I understood that before. I even wrote about it. But now, with God having pressed some kind of rest button in my brain, I really get it.

Rom 5:21 So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord

If you missed that, you missed the whole thing… I kid you not… because Adam sinned, death reigned. But now, because of Jesus Christ’s one act of righteousness, now grace reigns (not death). Wow. Did you get that? I got that before… I wrote about it in my book. But I’m looking these words with a new… simplicity.

Seek first… and then these things are added to you. Seek first… the righteousness that Jesus Christ HAS PROVIDED. The consequence of the righteousness that He provided is nothing less than the end of sin and death, the end of the reign of death… the increase of the reign of grace.

I know that some people may look around them and ask “where is it if you say He did it”. And that’s where we come back to “here are the keys to heaven on earth”…

Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; and

whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in Heaven; and

whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven

I’m just stunned at what happened on the cross… aren’t you?

Stronger, newer. Bolder.

I’ve just come through quite a time of being sick. Did I have flu? I did have bronchitis? Was it both? Was it more than that? It seemed like a time of darkness, a real time of struggle. My prayers seemed to lack real punch and due to sickness I was only able to sleep and sleep and not do much else.

And now… at the end of it, I feel stronger, cleaner and clearer. It was been a time of testing what lies within me, I think. So many nights I found myself fighting battles inside me – breaking through quite easily and winning. Now when I look at theology, given how hard it was to have any faith in this last time of trial, but now it all seems so clear and so obvious.

What a difference a few days make!

The purpose

It seems to me that God tried to be the fulfillment of all of those Names to the people of the Earth through His relationship with His chosen nation, the Hebrews/Israel. But when He was not able, He then demonstrated His nature to all humanity through Himself – by coming in flesh Himself as Jesus Christ in order to achieve two purposes..

Therefore when the Lord has completed all His work [of chastisement and purification to be executed] on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, it shall be that He will inflict punishment on the fruit [the thoughts, words, and deeds]… – Isa 10:12

The first purpose is to complete the full chastisement and purification on the cross (Mount Zion) and then to deal with the fruit. The first part is completed and the second part is in process because the first part is dealt with. The fruit can be easily dealt with only when we accept that He has completed the chastisment and purification. Remember that it is our faith that overcomes the evil (fruit) in this world…

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. – 1 John 5:4

We can only defeat the evil fruit if we first agree that sin and death is the core issue and then we agree that Jesus Christ has completely dealt with – completed the chastisement for it, and completed the purification of it.

It is our faith in His finished work on the cross that enables us to roll back the evil fruit that covers this world, and for grace to reign across this world. As our faith in Him is established, the fruit – spiritual, physical, emotional and mental strongholds – are pulled down, because the one who had the power of death is now powerless, and because grace is reigning. It is entirely a spiritual change, but the fruit (the change) is seen in the Earth.

The reign of death is transformed into the rein of God’s grace…

So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord – Rom 5:21

To reign (G936, βασιλεύω, basileuō) means to rule, to govern, to be a governor. Death reigned because of sin, but now grace reigns because of His righteousness. And His grace reigns over all after one act of righteousness, just as death reigned over all after that one sin. But through our faith, His grace reigns over all.

We live in a very exciting time. Some nations will benefit because they are His inheritance, some because they are His people and some because they are the work of His hands…

Isa 19:24-25 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

That work of His hands seems – to me – to point to the work He will do as we His people and His inheritance receive what He has done on the cross. As His grace reigns increasingly, other nations will become the work of His hands to a greater and greater extent, being blessed by Him.

So the grace of God will reign, because of Jesus Christ’s one act of righteousness… and because we have that faith in Him. I think it is in that way that we rule over sin, as we were told to…

Gen 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.

Let’s look at Strong’s Concordance for the meaning of the Hebrew word “rule” which was used in Gen 4:7

H4910, משׁל, mâshal, maw-shal’

A primitive root; to rule: – (have, make to have) dominion, governor, X indeed, reign, (bear, cause to, have) rule (-ing, -r), have power.

The connection is clear… we rule over sin by having faith in Jesus Christ’s one act of righteousness on the cross. Because He provided the full chastisement and purification, now the fruit can be dealt with. God’s grace will deal with it, in conjunction with His different people, as His grace reigns. We won’t sit idly by simply watching it all happen, we all are His chuch, the fullness of His body, we certainly will be active in rooting out the fruit from this world, but the foundations that must be put in place and kept in place for what is often called “the millennium reign” to occur, is to believe that He has completed His work of purification and chastisement.

We simply must believe that His one act of righteousness enables God’s grace to reign, and that the reign of sin and death is over. When we do that, our faith enables this change and the change occurs.

The End.

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.

The Names of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ

Previously we established that He is El, Ab, and that the Father dwellt in Him, He and the Father were Once and that is the I AM of Exodus.

But there is much more to be understood. There are many Names of God given in the Old Testament and they are reflected in what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Perhaps that is too subtle a way to put it. The nature of our Father God was fully expressed on and through the cross.

We know about His nature because the many names He gave Himself in the Old Testament express His nature, and we know that Jesus Christ is the exact impression of that nature… so we will find each of those Names fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

We can see the full nature of God the Father and we can understand Jesus Christ when we look at Him in this way. So here is just a short list of the Name of God in the Old Testament and how they relate to His complete work on the cross, His “one act of righteousness”…

• When He cried out “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” He was fulfilling the meaning of His Name: Elohay Selichot – God Of Forgiveness: (Nehemiah 9:17).
• By taking all sin upon Himself and setting it aside and abolishing it, He fulfilled the meaning of His Name: Elohe Tsadeki (Psalms 4:1)- GOD of My Righteousness. Note how personal that Name is: my righteousness.
• By destroying death, destroying the devil and destroying all the works of the devil He fulfilled the meaning of His Name: Elohim Machase Lanu (Psalms 62:8)- GOD Our Refuge. Again it is personal, OUR refuge.
• By saving us from sin, death, the devil and his works, He fulfilled Jehovah Keren-Yishi (Psalms 18:2)- The LORD the Horn of My Salvation and He became our refuge: Jehovah Machsi (Psalms 91:9)The LORD My Refuge, and Jehovah Magen (Deuteronomy 33:29)- The LORD the Shield, and Jehovah Maginnenu (Psalms 89:18)- The LORD Our Defense, and Jehovah Metsudhathi (Psalms 18:2)- The LORD My High Tower, and Jehovah Roi (Psalms 23:1)- The LORD My Shepherd, and Jehovah Mephalti (Psalms 18:2)- The LORD My Deliverer. Note the frequent use of the word “my” in those Names.
• By judging sin (and then taking the full chastisement for sin) He fullfilled His own Name of Elohim Shophtim Ba-arets (Psalms 58:11)- GOD that Judgeth in the Earth, and Jehovah Hashopet (Judges 11:27)- The LORD the Judge. The full righteousness of God according to the law was not avoided, it was fully judged and expressed and poured out as chastisement onto Jesus Christ on the cross. Not a letter passed from the law, it was all fulfilled.
• By literally walking amonst us and sleeping and eating with us in our homes, He fulfilled Immanu El – God Is With Us: (Isaiah 7:14), and Jehovah Immeka (Judges 6:12)- The LORD Is with You, and Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) The LORD Is There, and Jehovah-Shammah “the Lord is present” (Ezekiel 48:35). Again the personal words “us” and “you” are used.
• It was He who sanctified us (made us righteous, right with God) and in this way He showed us that He is the fullness of Jehovah Mekaddishkem (Exodus 31:13) The LORD that Sanctifies You, and Jehovah Tsidkenu (Jeremiah 23:6)- The LORD Our Righteousness, and Jehovah-Mekoddishkem “The Lord who sets you apart.”The Lord who makes holy, Exodus 31:13. Note the personal words “you” and “our”.
• He healed us by His stripes, and in this way He showed the fullness of the Name Jehovah Rophe (Exodus 15:26)- The LORD (our) Healer, and Jehovah-Rapha “the Lord that healeth” (Exodus 15:26)

That was just a selection of His Names as Father God which we shown to us as He walked amongst us and died in our place. Some of those names are also suitable for the Holy Spirit, because Jesus said He was going away but would come back… as the “Wonderful Counsellor” (Isa 6:9) which He did do at Pentecost, so these Names refer to Him now being with us.

By literally walking amongst us and sleeping and eating with us in our homes, He fulfilled Immanu El – God Is With Us: (Isaiah 7:14), and Jehovah Immeka (Judges 6:12)- The LORD Is with You, and Jehovah Shammah (Ezekiel 48:35) The LORD Is There, and Jehovah-Shammah “the Lord is present” (Ezekiel 48:35).

The eventual fulfillment and fullness of God being present with us was pointed to by Ezekiel…

Eze 37:26-28 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.”

First please note to whom He is speaking, it’s not to a “saved” people, but to a people who are spiritually “dead”…

Eze 37:12-13 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

And I think it’s important to notice that these things that Ezekiel speaks about also comes because the people ASK Him to do it. The impetus is Sovereign, the direction comes from Him, it’s in His timing… but the people ask Him to do it. That means that our faith and willingness is required…

Eze 36:37 “Thus says the Lord GOD: This also I will let the house of Israel ask me to do for them: to increase their people like a flock.

“I will let”… those words seem to imply a period of waiting, while He “lets” the people ask Him. So once again an active faith is shown to be a part of the key, with the other part being His willingness and His timing, because as Jesus Christ said, the Father sets the times and seasons…

Act 1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.

There is no room for passively waiting. If our eyes are open to these things, then it is time, it is that season, because He has opened our eyes and ears to Himself. No one can come to Him, unless He enables us. So if it’s time, then we are required to have faith and ask – in order to receive.

Someone I knew and respected once observed that it’s not 100% God and 0% us (this leads to passivity). It’s not 100% us and 0% God (this leads to deception and presumption). It’s not 50% God and 50% us (this is ineffective). It’s really 100% God and 100% us… that leads to revival and change and healings and everything else we so ferverently desire.

We can see this truth in the words of Jesus Christ when He said “you can do nothing apart from Me”. It is clear that He expects us to DO things. But we must remain connected to what He has done on the cross, in order for us to be effective.

Joh 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

Let me say it again, there is no room in Christianity for passivity. Our biggest (natural, humanly speaking) enemy seems to is low self-esteem, it causes us to wait for something to happen. But that something has already happened!

If we do not believe that He came, or that He resolved all things, then we will wait until He comes again for Him to resolve things. That is unscriptural to the extent that it is anti-the-Christ. Not believing that He died on the cross while taking all sin and restoring everything in Heaven and on Earth back to our Father God, is to deny His work on the cross. This stronghold is common in the church and it must be pulled down, in order for the church to become all it can be. We simply must get connected to the Vine and drink from Him.

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.

The exact imprint of the Father, I AM, El, Ab, Counsellor

Let’s go back to something I wrote earlier, that He is the exact likeness of our Father God. This is confirmed in the OT, because Isaiah prophetically wrote that He would be called our Eternal (or Everlasting) Father…

Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Jesus then confirmed this by saying to His disciples that if they have seen Him then they have seen the Father.

Joh 14:7-9 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

There it is, Jesus confirms that He and the Father are One, if we see Him, we see the Father. That is why I am cautious of any movement or indeed people who habitually pray to “father” rather than to Jesus Christ, or movements that ignore Jesus Christ and focuss instead on the Father God. Jesus IS the Father and He is the only way to the Father. We need not de-focus on Jesus Christ in order to have the Father, because He is the Eternal/Everlasting Father according to Isaiah 6:9.

Jesus then goes on to emphasize that the Father dwells in Him, and anyone who makes this specific connection that they are exactly One – and doesn’t deviate from it – will go on to do greater things than He did…

Joh 14:10-12 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.

Jesus Christ had previously – 7 chapters earlier – begun our understanding that He is the “I AM” which is a direct reference to when God revealed Himself to Abraham…

Exo 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

Joh 8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.”

So the likeness of Jesus Christ to the Father God is more than just a mirror image, but there is an actual and exact One-ness between them, with the Father dwelling within Jesus Christ as He walked this earth. By saying He is the “I AM” Jesus Christ IS the Father God Who was speaking to Abraham – while still remaining a separate Person.

This really matters to us when we are considering what He did on the cross, because if He is the exact likeness of our Father God then we can discover many things about Jesus Christ by considering His Names…

Heb 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature

That One-ness extends to the Holy Spirit, because Jesus Christ said “I will come to you” and then in the same breath He said that He will send the Holy Spirit (which He then did at Pentecost). So the One-ness extends from Jesus Christ to the Father God and also to the Holy Spirit. That is why His Name is called “Wonderful Counsellor” in Isa 9:6, as well as Ab and El.

Let’s focus on Jesus Christ as the promised fullness of God Himself. As I have already shown, Isaiah makes many prophetic promises of the coming Messiah (who then came as Jesus Christ)…

Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

In that passage is the word “God” and the Hebrew has the word “El”. This is a primitive word and many compound names for God often include that root word, such as Elohim, El-Elyon and so on. El means “mighty” and is only used in the bible as a plural word. So we know the promised Messiah would be the exact imprint of El. That is profound, don’t you think?

But take a look at this… Isaiah promised that this “child” would be called “Everlasting Father” and that word “Father” is “Ab” in the Hebrew. It is the primitive word. The very first word, H1! Let’s read what Strong’s Concordance has to say about this primary Hebrew word…

H1, אב, ‘âb, awb

A primitive word; father in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application: – chief, (fore-) father ([-less]), X patrimony, principal. Compare names in “Abi-”

This is a profound promise that Isaiah was making, that one of the names of the promised Christ would be “Ab”, the first Hebrew word… “H1”.

And this prepare things well as the key basic observation to underpin the points I am making in the next few chapters. If Jesus Christ was Ab and El… then He reflected the exact imprint of El and Ab.

To find out more about El and Ab, we simply need to investigate His other Names further… and as we know more about El and Ab, we will know more about Jesus Christ… His exact imprint… and I am sure that as we behold Him, we will come to know ourselves more and more too.

It feels strange to be using and writing about such revered Names of God. But I know that God loves us and is drawing us to Himself. We are coming home to Him, as the prodigal sons and daughters. So let’s humbly explore the interconnectedness between the promises made about our Father God and Jesus Christ on the cross – His exact imprint.

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.

How long is “a little more than a year” because THAT is when His Spirit will be poured out

Do you remember this blog post? Lakes and rivers to run again in Australia. We now know that this prophecy was astonishingly fulfilled. It’s well and clearly documented in my (free) MS Word document: 2008-9 Prophecies and Miracles v2.

In that post I summarized and quoted Isaiah…

Is 32:3 … the eyes of those who see will not be closed or dimmed, and the ears of those who hear will listen…

Isaiah 32:10 In little more than a year you will be shaken with anxiety, you careless and complacent women; for the vintage will fail, and the ingathering will not come. …

Isaiah 32:15 Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest….

Isaiah 32:17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever.

So how are we doing on this prophecy?

‘End of world postponed‘
September 22, 2009

The global economic downturn has probably hit bottom and the US may have emerged from recession at the end of July or during August, according to Paul Krugman, the Nobel prize-winning economist. “The end of the world appears to have been postponed,” Krugman, a professor at Princeton University, said yesterday. “We’ve had an extraordinarily terrible crisis” though “we’ve probably hit bottom” as “world output has turned positive“.

Well well well! Now we have come to the moment-critique! 

Let’s dissect this carefully, because it really matters…

• 25 June 2007 – God spoke to me about a financial catastrophe to come
• 23 September 2008 – I blogged that word: Prophecy – Catastrophe ahead (Ike and financial storms)
• 31 October 2008 – I wrote that post saying that God was prophesying the outpouring of His Holy Spirit after a financial catastrophe, in “a little more than a year”: Lakes and rivers to run again in Australia
• 21 September 2009 – I write a post (Let the fire of God come down on all nations – God’s words) saying God gave me a word the prev day (20th) about the outpouring of His Holy Spirit.

What am I looking for? I want to know if what God said would happen, if it did happen. And if it did, then we can increase our trust in His words for the future.

• Question 1: Did the prophesied crisis occur? - Yes.
• Question 2: Did it last a little more than 1 year? – Yes, from Sept to now, we are emerging from it
  
• Question 3: Has He begun to pour out His Spirit? - Well that depends on how long “a little more than a year” is.

Wikipedia says that the crisis “spiked” in September 2008 (detailed here). “In September 2008, the crisis deepened, as stock markets worldwide crashed and entered a period of high volatility, and a considerable number of banks, mortgage lenders and insurance companies failed in the following weeks.”

I can come to a few conclusions that should give us confidence:

1. God prophesied the collapse – correct!
2. God prophesied the collapse would last one year – correct!
3. God prophesied that His Spirit would then be poured out – I have no reason to doubt this.

I feel that I must stress that the result of the Holy Spirit being poured out will be

Isaiah 32:17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever.

Do not expect judgement. I have done some research into “the fire of God” and found that, except for Isaiah’s fire which burned up people, except for that, the fire of God comes via Ruarch which is the breath of God. You can see both at Pentecost, the Ruarch came and then tongues of Fire.

So expect – and pray for please – the infilling of the Holy Spirit on all nations, wiping away sin, wiping away tears, wiping away mourning, wiping away poverty by providing fat things full of marrow, wiping away wars, releasing people from spiritual and physical bondage.

I’ve been very honest with my readers about my life and the struggles I’ve had. I need this revival as much or more than any of you do. I’m desperate for the physical, spiritual and emotional freedom it will bring to me.

I’m also desperate to see the release of people that I see every day, as they struggle through a hard life, addicted, pressed down, trodden on, unkempt and sad. My heart breaks for people, it has for so long. And now we are on the edge of their release. Evangelists get ready… you are about to be very very busy. Pastors get ready, your flock will grow so fast that you will have to get home groups happening

Only one question remains… when exactly is “a little more than a year”? Wahoo!!!

10 Keys That Will be Released – a prophecy to study

I posted this previously, but I feel to post it again: 10 Keys That Will be Released – a prophecy to study. This word is exactly right, I believe.

The good news keeps on coming in SA

Check out the previous post containing previous improvements: The prophesied changes were long lasting!

So… the PPI is improving: S Africa’s PPI falls further.  The prediction was 3.5% the actual number is 0.3%…

Statistics SA said this week that on a monthly basis, the producer price index (PPI) fell to 0,3% compared with 2,9% in July… An estimate of 17 economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast PPI to fall 3,4% last month , from a year ago. “The good news is really in the detail, specifically in the manufactured items such as machinery and vehicles, where all signs of continued inflationary pressure have disappeared,” he said… Investec Asset Management head of fixed income André Roux said the PPI figure was “a far lower number than was expected by the market”. – Business Day

SAPS Crimes stats – while extremely high – show decline, some by over 10%!

This is only a start to the changes to come. It is virtually nothing by comparison. In fact a lot of the coming change can’t even be seen through such simple/narrow lenses. But from a statistical perspective, the prophesied change can be dramatically seen…

Prophetic intercession

I feel I must once again draw a distinction between two things. On the one hand scripture is clear that we can and must have an impact on this world by having faith that Jesus Christ has defeated sin and death in this world and released people. It is our job to speak into being those things that are not.

But that must not be confused by thinking that the people who are being set free by our faith in Him alreaady have eternal life. That is not the case. Jesus Christ healed and fed many thousands of people, but we have no idea how many of them actually changed their lives and followed Him. He gave the healing and provision as a free gift. Eternal life comes after the person chooses Him as Lord of their life.

Scripture is clear on this issue, it requires a choice…

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. – Romans 8:9

These are uncompromising words. As this world transforms, as ears and eyes open up to the truth, as physical sickness recedes and spiritual bondages break off… even as that happens and this world is transformed… until the person makes a clear choice, they are not saved eternally. They certainly experience more life in the here and now, but they do not have eternal life yet.

But the good news is that as people see, hear and think more clearly – as sin and death draw back, releasing people – in this state of clarity I am optimistic that people will see the goodness of Jesus Christ and respond to Him. Of that I am certain, because as God’s grace floods this world, the Holy Spirit will work with the church in dramatic ways, and the church will be far more effective in the world.

My message is that we – the people, the church – are called to overcome this world using our faith in Him and that is how people are set free to respond to Him…

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. – 1 John 5:4

Whether they do respond or not remains up to them. I hope they will. I am certain that they will.

Cindy Jacobs calls this kind of prayer “prophetic intercession” where we state the truths that we find in scripture in an offensive and warlike way to overcome the evil in this world and set nations free. For more information on this kind of prayer read Cindy’s book: The voice of God.

Reading her words on prophetic intercession it reminds me that Jesus Christ told us what the keys are…

Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven; and

whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in Heaven; and

whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven

This book explains what has been bound in Heaven and what is loosed in Heaven. It is your and my unique priviledge to be alive at this time in human history when the Holy Spirit is moving to loose and bind all those things right here on earth. The fullness of the gentiles is coming in!

You see, no matter how people choose to respond to the message of reconciliation that we bring, it is the role of the church to become His fullness on the earth and to overcome the evil of this world through our faith in Him on the cross and the power of His resurrection.

Cindy Jacobs calls it prophetic intercession. Jesus Christ calls it the keys to Heaven… loosing and binding Heaven on earth.

We can loose and bind so many things, because so much has been done. But if you are looking for a good place to start, try this. One man’s sin resulted in death and so death reigned over all of us, but now through one man’s righteousness, God’s grace reign’s over all of us.

That is the message spelled out clearly in Rom 5:15-21 over and over. Here is my own summary of those verses based on the words given in the Amplified Bible…

• I bind death which came through one man’s failing/lapse/offense, but I loose God’s grace and favor which came through one Man Jesus Christ and now abounds and overflows. v15 AMP.
• I bind the condemnation that came through one man’s sin, but I loose the free gift of justification. v16 AMP.
• I bind death from reigning over us all because of one man’s tresspass/false step/falling away, but I loose God’s overflowing grace, favor and righteousness reigning through Christ Jesus, the Messiah, the Anointed One. v17 AMP.
• I bind the condemnation that came through one man’s tresspass, but I loose acquittal and right standing for all men through one Man’s act of righteousness for all men. v18 AMP.
• I bind that through one man’s disobedience many became sinners, and I loose that many are consituted righteous, acceptable and in right standing to God through one Man’s obedience. v19 AMP.
• I bind sin, but I loose that God’s grace has surpassed it and increased more and has superabounded. v20 AMP.
• I bind that sin reigned in death, but I loose that God’s grace reigns through Jesus Christ’s righteousness. V21 AMP.

These are just some of the things which our prophetic intercession must state boldly, forcefully and repeatedly.

I’d like to highlight three things about this…

• Firstly, it is very important to note that these things have occurred on the cross. Take a look at the past tense words that are used, for example in v20.
• Secondly, please note v18 says “for all men” and in v19 it says sin spread to “many” which we know is in fact to ALL, then it says that the same “many” (or all) are consituted righteous, acceptable and in right standing to God.
• Thirdly, this is a change of legal status. Jesus Christ said that did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. Jesus Christ fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law. It’s a legal issue, a legal change…

Mat 5:17-18 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Based on those words, we can rest assured that the law is still in place, still finding fault with human society, still judging our failures and imperfections.

But. He fulfilled the law’s requirements, that is what He came to do. That is why our binding and loosing is done in accordance with the law. (See the Amplified’s wording for Matt 16:19.) We state that because of His one act of righteousness that the reign of sin and death are unlawful and improper. Instead we state that the reign of God’s grace is lawful. The change has occurred, we simply enforce it through our faith, our prophetic intercession, our prophetic statements of faith.

This change is pivotal and occurs because of His one act of righteousness on the cross. The change is lawful! That is the key issue that you must comprehend if you are to interced for this world, your region, your family or for yourself.

Will people see and respond to Him as Lord, therefore receiving eternal life? I desperately hope and pray that they will, but it remains their personal choice. I am sure they will, because they will manifestly see in this world His goodness and His love for us on the cross.

But regardless of if they do respond or do not respond, we must still take our place, being salt and light, maturing and becoming His fullness as we prophetically intercede for this world in our role as ministers of reconciliation

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.

Let the fire of God come down on all nations – God’s words

Yesterday I received a word, in fact it’s more of a prayer. I’m sharing it here because I believe that God has said that we can begin to count – in days, not weeks or months – how soon His Fire will fall on all nations. I don’t think it will be everywhere at once, but starting in the areas most receptive and obedient.

The prayer is word-for-word as follows…

Let the Fire of God come down on all nations in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

Those were His exact words. As He paused, I repeated His words. He was telling me something, but also leading me in prayer. It’s a prayer I hope you will receive with a good and honest heart and do as He said, to pray…

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop. – Luke 8:15

This parable of the sower and the seed (Mark 4:11-20) is described as foundational to understanding all the other parables (Mark 4:13), so don’t miss it. You need to receive His words with a good heart, let them take root, and do not let the cares and worries of this life or of looking good or money steal away the word He has given us.

Everywhere I look I am seeing signs of the death that grips this world – because of our sins – being broken. It’s happening everywhere! Here it is in Texas, just as it was being broken previously in Australia…

• Texas Scorched by 2 year long drought – July 28, 2009 worst in 50 Years… Crop and Livestock Losses Reach $3.6 Billion
• Storm dumps more than a foot of water into dry parched TX ground that began in 07 – The drought that began in September 2007 has cost an estimated $3.6 billion in crop and livestock losses in the nation’s No. 2 agriculture state. It has dried up waterways, forced more than 340 public water systems to restrict water use and killed hundreds of thousands of trees. It’s been declared the driest 24-month period in recorded history in parts of the state and the worst drought in history in a handful of counties.
• Drought improves in TX – Sept 17, 2009 – Drought conditions are improving in Texas, which is enduring more than two years of the driest conditions in the nation. The U.S. Department of Agriculture drought monitor map released Thursday showed about 16 percent of the state is now classified under the most extreme two categories of drought. That’s down from last week’s total of 25 percent of the state — all areas in the southern portion of Texas.
• Texas Crop Report after rains – Sept 20, 2009

There is a gradual release and change occuring in the earth. If you have been reading for a few years, you have seen so many major miracles He prophesied and then He delivered… I doubt you can question His words now. Surely not?! So receive His words with a good and honest (some versions say obedient) heart and act on them.

On the 13th of May He said to me (I blogged it on 19th May 2009) that there would be…

1. Revival everywhere
2. An end to wars

We certainly seem to have had some movement on both accounts! Now He is saying that He will begin pouring out His Spirit – Fire – in the very near future.

That pouring out was first shown to me in 2008 and I wrote it on 31st Oct 2008.

So what about the financial storm? Why isn’t it stopping? Well… I haven’t heard any Christians send frantic emails around requesting prayer for the storm – unlike for when Gustav was about to hit.

But besides that, everyone (and especially we Christians) must eagerly look forward to the eventual end of this financial storm, because at that time His Spirit will be poured out. It’s a very exciting time to be alive! Sorrow and sighing is about to flee away (Isaiah 35:10).

So what about the financial storm? Why isn’t it stopping? Well… I haven’t heard any Christians send frantic emails around requesting prayer for the storm – unlike for when Gustav was about to hit.

But besides that, everyone (and especially we Christians) must eagerly look forward to the eventual end of this financial storm, because at that time His Spirit will be poured out. It’s a very exciting time to be alive! Sorrow and sighing is about to flee away (Isaiah 35:10).

For those who are afraid of change, don’t worry. Democracy, capitalism and the freedom to worship whoever/whatever you want to… all of that remains. But it’s the end to the hegemony of sin and death. (PS: I hope you use your freedom to choose to believe in Jesus Christ!)

I mentioned in a previous post that God had said there was a catastrophe coming. I didn’t know how long it would take to come, but I had an idea it was financial. I think I have mentioned in previous posts that I believe Isaiah had the clearest view of these times we live in. Let me summarize Isaiah 32. Where I put “…” are other words and verses that related to these verses. They expand on them.

Is 32:3 … the eyes of those who see will not be closed or dimmed, and the ears of those who hear will listen…

Isaiah 32:10 In little more than a year you will be shaken with anxiety, you careless and complacent women; for the vintage will fail, and the ingathering will not come. …

Isaiah 32:15 Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is valued as a forest….

Isaiah 32:17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace [internal and external], and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confident trust forever.

The long and the short of it is this. God foretold this financial catastrophe 2500 years ago and told me about it “a little over a year ago” as I said in my post. I was freaked out and confused and everthing that comes with low self esteem. As you can imagine. Then… just as He said 2500 years ago, it came to pass “in a little more than a year” and the incredible thing is that it will last UNTIL the Spirit is poured out from on high.

Wow huh? It is generally accepted that we have come or are coming to the end of the financial crisis and God said that what would be next is His Spirit being poured out. And as of yesterday – 20th Sept 2009 – He is saying that will begin very shortly.

I had a feeling it was coming because on the 18 Aug 2009 I wrote in a journal

I feel the same as a famous evangelist once said of His own baptism in the Holy Spirit – and the resulting revival that came after that – I know that the wood has been prepared and it is in place and now I’m just waiting for the fire to come.

I feel as he did. Off to sleep now. Waiting for the fire to come.

I could see in a vision two piles of wood, one small one (me) and a huge one behind (the world).

Ah we live in exciting times! You can be a part of it, an active part, you can tell your children and thir children you prayed, you were involved… receive His words with a good and honest heart. Pray with me…

Let the Fire of God come down on all nations in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ

Here is a superb description of the symbol of fire from conservapedia…

Fire - Holy Spirit

Fire. While water signifies birth and the fruitfulness of life given in the Holy Spirit, fire symbolizes the transforming energy of the Holy Spirit’s actions. The prayer of the prophet Elijah, who “arose like fire” and whose “word burned like a torch,” brought down fire from heaven on the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. This event was a “figure” of the fire of the Holy Spirit, who transforms what he touches. John the Baptist, who goes “before [the Lord] in the spirit and power of Elijah,” proclaims Christ as the one who “will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” Jesus will say of the Spirit: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!” In the form of tongues “as of fire,” the Holy Spirit rests on the disciples on the morning of Pentecost and fills them with himself. The spiritual tradition has retained this symbolism of fire as one of the most expressive images of the Holy Spirit’s actions. “Do not quench the Spirit.”

I also think that v36 of the book is the final draft. I ended my writing today with the words “The End”. I think that what remains now is to have patience and wait for the “Anointing” to fall. And it will. And it will fall in all nations, because that is what His words said.

John the Baptist prophesied about Jesus Christ and what He will do…

“He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” – Luke 3:16-17

I’ve been exploring for year on this blog what He did. we have ask ourselves, what was it John the Baptist was promising, and then decided if He did it. I claim that He did do it, and we simply receive it.

Here is another superb! resource for you to read about the Holy Spirit’s baptism of fire and it refers specifically to the words of John the Baptist…

So what is this fire baptism? There are three possibilities:

1. A figure of purification of sin as the Holy Spirit does his cleansing work in us as part of the process of sanctification. Indeed, the Spirit’s cleansing in us is sometimes painful, but nothing in the context suggests that this is what John had in mind.
2. A symbol of the tongues of fire that appeared over the heads of the 120 disciples in the upper room on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3). This, too, is a stretch for John the Baptist. In the Pentecost passage, the fire probably represents the Shekinah glory of God rather than fires of purification.
3. A prophecy of the eschatological separation of the righteous from the unrighteous, and judgment by the Messiah at the end of the age. This fits contemporary expectations of the Messiah, as well as the words “cleanse thoroughly” and “unquenchable fire” contained in the passage. Jesus’ parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:30, 41-42) includes this kind of analogy of separation and final judgment.Remember Henry Alford’s well-known Thanksgiving Hymn, “Come Ye Thankful People, Come,” verse 3?
   “For the Lord our God shall come, And shall take His harvest home.
   From His field shall in that day All offenses purge away;
   Give His angels charge at last In the fire the tares to cast,
   But the fruitful ears to store In His garner evermore.”

So John is prophesying of Jesus that he will (1) flood his followers with the Holy Spirit, and (2) judge the unrighteous at the End of the Age.

Wow. I also believe that John the Baptist was pointing to the purging away and burning up of all offenses, which is what Jesus Christ did on the cross. And that is what I believe we are about to see happening across the earth very very soon. The effect should be interesting to watch. 

Confession time

Here is a personal testimony. I am not free from sin, because to some extent I still live under the reign of sin and death in this world. But on my way to do a sin, I restate my belief that God’s grace is reigning, because Jesus Christ made us all righteous on the cross. While I am sinning I restate that belief firmly. After my sin I restate that belief firmly. I don’t ask “if You can”, I believe He did it. Our faith is not all DO DO DO, it is simply DONE DONE DONE.

The result of my unshaken faith – walking by faith, not by sight – is that the reign of sin and death gradually breaks and the reign of God’s grace gradually increases. This is the faith of Abraham. He didn’t consider the condition of his own body

Rom 4:19022 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb.

No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”

I’m not considering the condition of my own body, I’m sticking to His promises. I’m also not considering the condition of your body or of this world, I’m sticking to His promises.

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.

Not a dot will pass from the Law until all is accomplished

It is surely a profound thing to discover that under the law we are righteous! And under the law sin and death are unrighteous. How can this be? If you didn’t read the previous chapter, let me give you the short version here. Because Jesus Christ took the sin of the whole world onto Himself and paid the penalty owing on behalf of us, there is no further payment to be made. The whole world’s sin was remove, so the whole world is acquitted – found not guilty – and now any further effort to extract a payment from people (sin and death) is “improper and unlawful”.

How about that for a turn of events. The law kept us in bondage because it righteously found our sins to be improper and unlawful. So the law gave permission to sin and death to punish us ongoingly.

But with this one act of righteousness by Jesus Christ, our sins are acquitted and we are released into right standing with God! THANK YOU JESUS CHRIST!

So any attempt by the devil, or principalities and powers, or anything else to use the law to get permission to harass us is useless. Under the law we – the whole world of undeserving and unearned sinners – are found to be not guilty any more. The full payment was paid.

Now sin and death are now found to be “improper and unlawful”. Wow!

You see, Jesus Christ did not come to remove or abolish the law… far from it… He fulfilled it! Now the law is on our side…

Mat 5:17-20  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

What a turn of events! Sin and death are not able to use the law to retain control over anyone. They are now seen as “improper and unlawful” under the law that used to keep us in bondage.

Why do I keep using that phrase “improper and unlawful” as if it’s so important? Because it is important, Jesus gave us the key to the Kingdom of heaven…

Mat 16:19 I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven;

and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in Heaven;

and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven

So… it’s up to you again Christian! Your faith is what transforms this world from a place in which sin and death reigns, into a place where God’s grace reigns disproportionately.

I suggest that you take some time, days perhaps, to ask God in prayer what part of your life, or the world around you (your neighbourhood, your street?) you should pray for… and then get busy declaring the work of Jesus Christ to be lawful, and declaring sin and death to be improper and unlawful. Be careful to hear the answer before you run ahead, because your prayer must be in proportion to your “measure of faith”.

Rom 12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Through our faith in His finished work on the cross, God’s undeserved and unearned favor and grace begins to reign. It already does and it will even more as we mature into His body filled with His fullness. God’s undeserved and unearned grace will reign out of all proportion to the way that sin and death reigned.

I’m so excited so see this manifest, having seen it so much in visions for many years. I simply can’t wait!

Taken from…

Book: If My people (v35!) (1+MB) – A free daily devotional which is under development. 167 pages.