The Love Inside

"Change ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Master....

Whom the heavens must receive until the times of Restoration of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

~Acts 3:19, 21

The beautiful thing about Yahshua's life is that refreshing has come.  Refreshing takes us on further. We must be refreshed and let God love us into existence - true existence, where we are awakened to Him and to us, to how we should see Him and to just how He sees us.  Christ wants to shine brighter on you (Ephesians 5:14)!

Our Heavenly Father wants a culture shift.  He wants our own personal refreshment to trigger widespread restoration.  He wants us to realize that Christ in us (Colossians 1:27) is the Kingdom Leaven (Matthew 13:33).  He wants us to realize that we, by virtue of His presence, are contagious. We are the carriers of His Glory; we are those He's entrusted to changing the world. One step at a time and one person at a time - from the inside out.

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Vanessa posted a musical project this past week detailing Yahweh's movement in her life.  And He's shone us that this video will produce a massive cultural shift in the perception of the Love of God. He's shone us that this video is going to change our lives, so that we in turn can be positioned to change the lives of others and work for their good.

I was praying about this project recently, asking God to bless it and send revival.  And He told me not to pray for that.  He told me to pray for a culture shift instead!  He showed me that in past times and seasons, culture has not supported revival!  Instead, revival has fizzled out under the oppression of a dark, godless society and culture.

A widespread, unquenchable cultural change must occur first.  We're just on the brink of it.  If culture is inclined to our Heavenly Father, then and only then can we have lasting change.  If our culture loves and is Loved by Yah, then we can have His presence abide. Then He can teach all of us all things (Hebrews 8:11); then He can produce lasting goodness in this world (John 15:16).  Messiah will be all in all (1 Cor. 15:28).

So, here is Vanessa's video - or rather, Yahweh's video presented by Vanessa.  It's essentially her personal testimony with one or two dramaticized parts (she never did heroin).  There are a few twists in there...enjoy, and may you come into contact with the presence of God like never before.

Hope!!!

Commit thy way unto Yahweh; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass.              

~Psalm 37:5

Hope always leads to trust and rest.  In order to have such hope, you need to commit your paths, your plans, and even your predictions to God.  There's a comfort in knowing it's out of your own hands. It's comforting to know that the preeminent changes can only be accomplished by God.  It's comforting to know that it's not up to you!

Hope isn't complacency.  But it is contentment.  And contentment in itself is gain (1 Tim. 6:6) -- another thing to hope for!

Hope is not a reason to sit around all day, just "waiting on the Lord".  Hope is a reason to have confidence in yourself!  Confidence in yourself -- in Christ (Phil. 4:13).  Remember in Psalm 37 that Yahweh will bring your way to pass.  Your way, yes, if it's already been committed!  In Christ, you are capable and pure.

Hope makes us bold (2 Cor. 3:12), it inspires us to act, it inspires us to pray and to contend.  Spiritual warfare is only done from a point of rest.  Work should only be done in trust.  Hope won't let you get weary!

Hope can seem foolish to the world.  It may inspire the appearance of short-term memory loss (Philippians 3:13). Hope can be illogical, unconventional, and stubborn.  Hope doesn't look at the facts.

The mystery of Christianity is this: "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).  Ultimately, hope comes from the longing for Christ in you.  

Hope For The Future, Part Three: Godly Idealism

God is an idealist: 



Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act 

unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, 

hopes all things, endures all things.


 

This is what love does, and since God is love (1 John 4:8), this is what God does.  God hopes all things.  God wins in the end, so why shouldn't He hope all things?  His victory is assured, and ours can be, too.  And if we will rise with Him, why shouldn't we also be filled with hope?




"I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he

has given to those he called--his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance."     

Ephesians 1:18 MSG









God's Word says that His people are destined for a rich and glorious inheritance.  And we can walk in a measure of that glory now, and then move on to fullness.  There is nothing more hope-inspiring than that! 

God has so many promises for those who love Him.  He has so many blessings stored up for those who live by His Spirit.  He has so many good things to give.   He is waiting to bless you!  Not that you have not been blessed yet, but there is always more to God.  He is for us unsearchable riches.  (Ephesians 3:8)  He is to us incomprehensible love. (Romans 11:33)  It's time to get a fresh anointing.  It's time to walk in our blessings.  It's time to live life to the fullest.  It's time for Christ in us to shine through.  It's time to yield to the Father's unending hope.









   






"To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the

Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory"                          

Colossians 1:27

Hope For The Future, Part Two: Confidence in Prayer

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us."                                                                     1 John 5:14

And again,


"Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it."                   John 14:14

CONFIDENCE IN HIS PROMISES

These verses should give us so much confidence in prayer.  If we believe them, then they will!  Can we become bolder and more decisive in our prayers?  We can, if we make God's Word a reality in our lives.  We are free to make bold petitions and ask big questions.  We are free to pray big prayers.  Can't God do exceedingly abundantly more than we ask? (Ephesians 3:20)  He can, and He will, if we pray in faith.  

Praying for someone else is so exciting when you know the work has already been done.  If I believe Jesus when He said, "It is finished", then I'll believe that He has also already overcome every single work of the devil.  Praying for someone else is so easy sometimes, because I can realize that God loves that person even more than I do.  I know that Jesus will overcome the enemy's work in their lives--He just lets me say the words.  I know that the hard work has been finished by another.  And because of that, I know that He will choose to show His glory.

Praying for myself is great, too.  The results are effective and often immediate.  If I ask for wisdom for God, I am destined to receive it.  That's what the Word says, and if I believe it, then I will allow God to manifest it.  Just look at the promises below:

"For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."                                                                 Matthew 7:8

"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him."                         James 1:5



Lord, give us wisdom.  Lord, give us faith.  Lord, make us pure.  Lord, give us more love.  Lord, please touch our families.  Lord, please give an opportunity today.

OK, so God will do all those things.  Praise Jesus!  He made things so simple.  We can always take heart (John 16:33) and have confidence in Him.  We can put all of our trust into His heart.

CONDITIONS TO MEET

There are conditions to meet, however, before we can know that God will listen to our prayers.  I could try to explain this, but instead, I think we should all meditate on the scriptures below.  These are the conditions, and these are the results of disobedience:



"But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that He will not hear"                                              Isaiah 59:2

"We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will."
John 9:31

"When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."                                    James 4:3

These warnings have been written so that we might know the benefits of obedience to God.  The closer we are to God,  the close He will be to our prayers.  We need to be close.  We need to be pure, godly, and obedient--that's when God will listen.  That's when He will listen and intercede with us.  That's when we can be confident!  We have been given in the Holy Spirit a purity that causes Him to respond to our every prayer and petition.

Prayer changes things, after God has changed you.  Prayer moves things, after God has moved you.  And there comes a time when God gives freedom in prayer.  There comes a time when, as a friend of God, we can cause Him to change His mind (this is in the Word--look at Jeremiah 42, esp. 42:10).   We can know that our prayers move the hand of God.

 "If the Holy Ghost doesn't move me, then I move the Holy Ghost."  

Smith Wigglesworth said this.  Many people refused it, or thought it was unscriptural.  It probably seemed to be a prideful statement--maybe Smith Wigglesworth thought he was God.  

But in reality, Wigglesworth was just a really close friend.  And he knew that persistence gets things done.  He knew that faith in God to carry out His Word always pays off.  He knew that God's promises do not ever fail--if you stand on them, if you make them your life.  We need to know what Jesus says--"If you ask for anything in My Name, so I will do it."  We need to make Jesus our best friend.  We need His love and His conviction resting upon us.  That's when we trust Him.  That's when we have boldness.  And this is the way that we can have confidence in prayer.

Uriel, God is My Light

"Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for those who are gracious and compassionate and righteous."                Psalm 112:4

"Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, and He will do it.  He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday."               Psalm 37:5-6  

As followers of Jesus, we share in His light and His life.  We should have our lives modeled after Him.  We should in our lives display the light of the world.  People should look right through us and see Jesus in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27)--the light that saves the world.

"Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation..."                Psalm 27:1

God is our light and our salvation.  And we are the light and the salvation of those who do not yet believe.  Until one comes to know God, the best thing they could have is you and I.  People should look at us and see love.  They should look in us and see something otherworldly.  They should recognize us by good fruit.  And what is this fruit?  That we love one another.

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

John 13:35

Do we have Love?  It's possible to not have it.  If we don't have God, we won't have Love.  If we know Him and belong to Him, then we will have His Love.  If we have His Love, then others will know it.  This is how we are supposed to be recognized!

God's Love is also His light.  Heaven is full of God; it is also full of light (Revelation 22:5).   And we can be full of His light too!  We can be built up from the inside out and shine brighter and brighter and brighter.  We need to realize that the light within us is greater than the darkness in the world      (1 John 4:4). We need to go from Glory to Glory--to let Him be our light and clothe us with His glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).   We need to let His light shine on our faces and even change our countenance. This is how we should minister.   This is how we should shine out into the world.

Confirmed:  Last Friday we were doing street ministry, and we stopped in at a Christian bookstore.  There was a biblical name book on sale, and we 'happened' to open it up to the name Uriel:  Hebrew-  "God is my light".  We all thought that was a fitting message for our street ministry.  We felt God was looking down and approving us--approving that we were ministering His light.

Later the next day, I oversaw a story on the news about a boy named Uriel.  I do not know the last time that I heard this name...God is so good with His confirmations.

Confirmed:  I was reading an excerpt on the Elijah List about Bob Jones.  It was all about God's light, His glory, and the importance of shining for Him in ministry.  It expanded on being the light of the world.  Bob also had a unique revelation on the presence of God's glory on this earth, which is worth a read if you have the time.  Below is a segment of this article; I bolded parts for emphasis.

Back in the early 70's wherever you walked, people would see you shining. I'm talking about those that were unsaved. They would see you shining. Sometimes they would just want to draw up close to you because they would say, "I've been so depressed. Can I sort of stand by you because when I stand by you I'm not depressed anymore? I don't know what it is but whatever you got I need."

Evangelism was that easy. It's God's glory! I don't see how you could do really good power evangelism without God's glory. And every one of these things is first and foremost in the name of the Son as He came to glorify the Father. So in the name of Jesus as we begin to move in these latter times we will see some of the greatest signs and wonders you ever seen. It's to glorify the Father.

So be excited in these times and get aboard the glory train. For that's the invitation of this. Get aboard that glory train and let's ride with Him in His glory as we glorify the Father. So in Jesus name these things I spoke, let it enter into your conscience, your spirit man to where you shine; an inner shining and inner glory that will shine in the darkest night that will never let darkness come in.

For you see; when light shines, darkness hides and you're the shining light. And this is what He's saying, "Shine! That's your glory! Don't put a bushel over your glory, but let your glory so shine so that man may see the glory and come to the knowledge and to salvation." In Jesus name. Amen.

Snapshot: Victory

Recently I've heard a lot about victory.  This is what Jesus has earned for us...this is our inheritance in Him.  Victory is knowing that Jesus is Lord and King, and knowing that you have justification with Him.  Victory is being close enough to Him to know that all is well, drawn near enough to know that His Love remains.  Victory is total satisfaction, and it leaves us wanting nothing more than to remain with Him.

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want"  Psalm 23:1

All we can do to have victory is to melt before Jesus.  All we can do is offer ourselves up and let Him carry us there.  God is taking us to victory.  Draw near to Him, draw closer, and He will take you there.  Blessed Victory.  Don't be satisfied with the past, the present, or your future.  Only desire closeness to Him.  You can have it right now.  You can be moved to tears of joy right now.  You can have a revelation of His Love right now.  So understand that He's saved you with an otherworldly Love, and put your hope in Him.

"Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore."  Psalm 131:3

We are spiritual Israel.  Glory to God!  Let's be taken to that place where we can be with Him.  He will take us there, and make us more like Him.  He is faithful to draw us near, and He is faithful to give us a hope that will not fade.  Come near to Him and believe in the Victory.  Believe that Jesus is still on the throne.  Look to Him, and hope that His deliverance is here.

Snapshot: An Eternal Perspective

God has a different relationship to time than we do.  In fact, He operates outside of time and space altogether!

"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day."  2 Peter 3:8

And I was thinking about this a few days ago, and realizing that one day we will look back at our momentary troubles and realize how insignificant they were.  We will look back and see how God worked our suffering into His Redemption plan.  And someday we'll be in Heaven with Him, fully understanding the causes of things that caused confusion back while we were alive on the earth.  

I realized in that moment, that our trials only make sense if we view time from an eternal perspective.  

If we realize that God has already designed the end from the beginning, if we realize that He has plans to prosper us and not to harm us, if we realize the eternal nature of His Love, then we can retain His Joy throughout any earthly difficulties.  We can welcome any of the "light and momentary troubles" that Jesus promised would come (John 16:33).

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."  2 Corinthians 4:17

Glory to God.   He has promised us eternal Glory.  Not only that, but this heavenly state has already been set in place for us!

"And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus..."  Ephesians 2:6

In order to live this life to the fullest we need to have an eternal perspective.  We need to really live in believing that we have a tremendous joy set before us.  There is so much joy set before us!  God has been storing it up for us since the beginning.  Lord, I believe!  Hallelujah.

Confirmed:  After thinking on this topic for a while, I got on my Kindle and saw a notification that struck me as odd.  The message said, "It looks like you have changed time zones".  This would normally only happen if I had actually traveled west to the next time zone.  

Right after seeing this uncanny notification, I got onto the Quickened Word website and saw a new post...Here it is.  I knew what God was saying.  He had directed my thoughts, and I had indeed changed 'time zones' to and aligned with His eternal, timeless perspective!

And that's exactly what God wants!  He wants us to know the truth that His calling had, even from before time began.  He wants us to know that our this life is not eternal, and even this short life is not our own.  We need to realize that this world in it's present form is passing away (1 John 2:17).  So let's live as if we believed this.  Let's live life from an eternal perspective.  Our calling is awesome, so let's accept whatever trials He desires to take us through.  Let's keep our eyes fixed on the Savior.  

Snapshot: A Heavenly House

Yesterday I was in church and there was a scripture reading on John 14.  Of course, this was made more personal for me because the disciple Thomas was talking with Jesus in that passage.  Thomas was concerned--He wanted to stay with Jesus, when Jesus was talking about a future paradigm with which the disciples felt very much out of concern.  But Jesus doesn't want our hearts to be troubled.

So God began laying some specific things on my heart.  He began reminding me about the house He's prepared for me in heaven.  He's prepared for us a holy house, a glorious house.  And He showed me I can get more than a foretaste now.

Can this life get better?  It can.

Will this life get better?  It will, but we need to aggressively seek the Lord.

He will not punish us for coming to close.  As long as we come through faith in Jesus, we don't need to be afraid.  We can live under an open heaven RIGHT NOW.  We can experience a taste of that Day today.  We can have our spirits set in high places at this very moment.

God wants to reward us.  He wants to lavish His love upon us.  He wants us to be full of Glory.  He wants us to count the cost for this, then gladly obey all.  You'd be surprised about just how much God wants to give to us.  I've been, at least.  No eye has seen, and no ear has heard, exactly how great our riches in Him will be (1 Corinthians 2:9).  And we can start receiving this now.  But we have to really want it.  We have to have Jesus as our mediator.  We have to follow Him all the way to the Father, and with every surmounted obstacle He will strip our sinful flesh away.


Confirmed:  Today I overheard a scripture lesson on Christian radio on John 14.  John 14:2 says, "In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?"  Jesus wants to take us to the very same place that He is going.

Vision: Heavenly Doors

Last week I started receiving visions of gates opening. These gates and doors were intricately carved and had been tightly shut. I sensed they were spiritual doors that directed physical events. God gives us open doors when we prove faithful.

"because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me." 1 Corinthians 16:9

We need to stay focused on the Lord Jesus to pass through doors, and we must prize spiritual doors above worldly ones. Once we can "count everything else as loss" (Philippians 3:8), the Lord will give us spiritual gifts. We need to eagerly desire these things, and seek them. Above all, seek God's face. God rewards a hunger for Him.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Matthew 5:6

Satisfaction is guaranteed if we humbly ask from God. And spiritual satisfaction means going from "strength to strength" and from "glory to glory". It means passing through trials within a hedge of protection. It means that God goes before us and opens the doors. Glory to God! Seeking Him keeps us from impatience--we cannot press ahead of His steps. He needs to be our light and our inspiration.

"But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment." Isaiah 50:11

Humility and reverence will never lead us into prying open our own doors. Sometimes we need to ask and then receive, not ask and then receive. Sometimes the Spirit will lead us to step aside and see the hand of God move on our behalf. Let's pray for God's guidance to direct us to the right doors. If it's His Will, He will guide the path. We need to be discerning and warfare God's way. God does not fail, and we can ask to pass through opened doors in faith in God's goodness.

Synchronicity: Prophecy Confirmed

As I said in prior posts, God can and does use synchronicity to confirm Himself. By bringing together an array of events, He can develop for us a new message, or confirm an older one. God's timing is perfect, and if we walk in His will, He can manufacture our future and bring to us aligning circumstances that show us the way.

Synchronicity in Group Prophecy

God uses synchronicity both to produce and confirm the prophetic Word. He validates Himself through bringing together the same messages to different people. When prophesying over someone in a group setting, God often brings to mind similar things to those doing the prophesying.

"...Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses." 2 Corinthians 13:1

While prophesying in a group setting, you will find that God always establishes a common theme. He gives a vision of a tree to one person, while giving the phrase, "oaks of righteousness" to another. He brings these things together in a synchronistic way. One person gets one puzzle peace, another gets a glimpse of the final project.

"For we know in part and we prophecy in part". 1 Corinthians 13:9

We also prophesy in accordance with the measure of faith God's given us. By demonstrating a recurring theme through synchronistic downloads into many people, God builds collective faith of the group. The body then can build off of itself and release deeper and more accurate words. This is because it takes faith to prophecy! Then comes a blessing from the Lord as "each matter is established". This blessing is of faith, and this faith permits the flow of convicting prophecies.

For example, many times in our prophetic group back in North Carolina, two people will receive the same vision, at the same time, and for the same person. God is so faithful to create, confirm, and carry out His Word.

"So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

Synchronicity to confirm a Personal Prophecy

Even after a prophetic word is given, the person who receives it has to remain faithful to God and the implanted Word. It is the Holy Spirit who brings things to remembrance, and God will bring synchronous confirmations to us so that we can have hope for the future. God waters the Word in us, and feeds into the Holy Spirit, to give us faith and "the assurance of the things we hope for". Glory to God! Confirmational messages can be so fun.

For example, one day the Lord spoke to me about my wife. He said that today she would "always be right, no matter what". As it turns out, that day she introduced to me a controversial topic that I otherwise would've probably rejected. But God softened my heart, and renewed my mind, by bringing several confirmations of her opinion to my awareness. Because I was walking in His will, "the Word because flesh" and dwelt with me. God had His Hand in so many synchronous events that day..wherever I went--even if only to the grocery store--I received another sign that confirmed both His direction that morning and my wife's opinion.

"Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, 'This is the way you should go,' whether to the right or to the left." Isaiah 30:21

God's Spirit will only highlight synchronistic events if they bear witness with the Word. In other words, signs should confirm the bible, personal prophecies, or both! If they do not, we need to realize that we may be acting out of fear. Synchronicity cannot trump the Word of God. That being said, we serve an all-powerful God who enjoys directing all events towards His will. A series of unlikely events may just be God's way to give us hope in a past Word, as means of giving us hope in the future.

Snapshot: Jesus is Willing

What a wonderful mediator we have! You will find that He is always ready to redeem you. He redeems us, and recommends us to the Father. Through His sacrifice we can be set in high places with Him!

When we are uplifted like this, we open ourselves up to God's heart. Revelation comes and "the hope of Glory" opens our hearts to a new thing. Jesus is always willing to show us a new thing, in hopes that we take after Him. He can and often does use whatever means possible to communicate to us.

"For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen." Romans 11:36

The Spirit allows us to see pure things in a pure light. All things are for Him, so that we may hear from God and draw close to Him. Jesus is willing to connect the dots and demonstrate His love for us by using all things! The Lord speaks through His WORD, and confirms it in good and perfect ways. (For more on hearing from God, see this post). Let's pray for God's creativity to unlock ourselves to the fullness of His WORD and His voice.

Confirmed: 'Jesus is Willing' devotional title Confirmed: '...to connect the dots' from next page in devo Confirmed: From another Christian book: 'The Lord suddenly connected all the dots'

Our Lord is so willing to confirm Himself to us. All these confirmations were gotten in under an hour!