Snapshot: Psalm 20:6

While in Church a few weeks ago, the Lord gave me a vision where He scooped me up from where I was at, and lifted me to a higher place of worship.  His right arm, specifically, reached down and brought me up to Himself.  I realized that deliverance had come--God was providing a safe place where I would be free to worship in Spirit and in truth.

The rest of the worship session was fantastic!  I knew God had lifted my head up--I knew He had came down and rescued me.  And then I happened to turn to Psalm 20, verse 6.  But I know it was intended by God:

Now this I know: The LORD gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of his right hand.

Praise God!  For me, that was such a confirmation.  God was reaffirming what He'd first told me through the vision.  He confirmed that He is faithful, that He is powerful.  He confirmed that He gives saving victory to His anointed.

We can always rely on God's promises.  If He had His way, He'd fulfill every single one of them through our lives.  We just need to trust Him!  We just need to meet the conditions--and then focus on Him.

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me."

Psalm 138:7

Reprobate spirits

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient"     Romans 1:28

We need to retain God in our knowledge.  What does this mean?  It means we need to make Him our focus and our life, or else we are at risk for deception.  We need to do everything to the glory of God. And we have to want to do this, which means we need to die to ourselves.  Our own desires and distractions can make us forget God.

"The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity."        Luke 8:14

When things of God have been pushed aside in our lives, we are in danger of losing our spiritual inheritance.  We are in danger of never seeing God's goodness become real to us.  We have lost our passion for the only thing that really counts--the reality of God's Love for total salvation.  The enemy can then come in and make us believe a lie.  And God allows this.

"So I let them go after the stubbornness of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels."    Psalm 81:12

 If we have shown God that we want to run after the world, then He will probably let us, at least for a time. He honors free will, and He gives us over to whatever we want most.   Often our own desires have been influenced by other things.  And more often then not, those influences come from the devil.  Sinful desires comes from the world, where darkness has set up it's rule--the world is in nature contrary to God (John 15:19).  Our own desires often lead towards idolatry, and God allows us to run after darkness.

Micaiah said, "Therefore, hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left. "The LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?' And one said this while another said that. "Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.' The LORD said to him, 'How?' And he said, 'I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.' Then He said, 'You are to entice him and also prevail. Go and do so.'       1 Kings 22:19-22

How does this work?  If people want to follow a lie, then God gives them one.  God allows deception to sneak in.  God is sovereign, and He actually allows for other spirits to come in and make us fall for our own desires.  He gives us over to a reprobate spirit--something that deceives us so we can continue on in following ourselves.  These spirits try to entice us into falsehoods and darkness.

If we accept anything that is not grounded in the Word and the Spirit, then we may allow these spirits to give us a reprobate mind.  If we fall for their deception, they will begin to affect our minds.  They will cause us to do things which are not convenient.  They will take away any fruitfulness that we have, because true fruit comes only from the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).  We will begin doing things that do not serve God or His purposes.  These things may not even serve ourselves.  They will, however, serve the enemy and cause some amount of inconvenience--some amount of confusion.

For a long time, I did not understand why God would ever allow this sort of thing to happen.  But it's His intent to make us stumble enough to know that we need to return.  When we hit rock bottom, that's when we can realize our mistake.  That's when we realize that we've become an enemy of God. That's when the Lord gives us eyes to see--eyes to comprehend that we've reaped what we've sown. Eyes to see that we deserve the deception handed to us.  That's when we can humble ourselves and repent.  That's when we can enjoy total forgiveness and be renewed to God! Once we realize our backsliding, we can experience godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10) and turn away from any deception we've fallen into.  We can have God heal us!

"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely, for my anger has turned away from them."    Hosea 14:4

It's so important to stay grounded in Him.  It's so important to accept only the truth.  We need to cling to that which is good (Romans 12:9) and resist any deception the devil tries to subject us to (James 4:7).  That's how we avoid a reprobate mind.  That's how we continue on in the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).

If we seek His Kingdom--living in it and bringing other into it--before anything else, we will stay safe.  We can enjoy a sound mind and a fruitful life.  We can stay in perfect peace(Isaiah 26:3).  We can live within the Kingdom, and then have grace given to us to receive more and more freedom.  We can experience the joy of a mind stayed on our Lord and a lifestyle that pleases Him.

Your Prophetic Word Confirmed: He Sets a Table

In a blog post here yesterday, I went into how the Lord is faithful to keep us well nourished regardless of our spiritual surroundings. Below is an excerpt from that blog post, with bolded parts for emphasis.


1/14/15 Snapshot:  Rest and Comfort: 

The Holy Spirit brought to remembrance Psalm 23:5.  There were several confirmations for this verse...and I had it playing and replaying in my hear for much of the day:

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

Spiritually speaking, believers today have enemies as real as those of King David. However, our enemies are not flesh and blood like his.  Instead, they are systems of this world and spiritual powers of darkness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).  The good news is that God still protects us!  He still gives us messages and words--the bread of life--amidst chaos and darkness brought about by the enemy.  He invites us to feast with Him on the Word, and still, enemies and accusers lurk nearby.  But God protects us from these things!  That's what Psalm 23:5 testifies to--the faithfulness of God overcoming all else. 


Then, today, a new Word was released on the Elijah list--"Your Watch Word for 2015".   In it were some very encouraging lessons.  There were also lots of confirmation, one of which was especially striking.  Below is an excerpt from this Word, by Russ Walden.  I italicized it, and in addition bolded the parts that really stuck out to me.


1/15/15 Elijah List:


"You will find My favor in the morning. You will find My favor in the evening. You will sit at the table of My favor in the presence of your enemies and they will not be able to reduce you or inhibit you in anyway.

"Make My presence your priority," says the Father, "for 2015 will be a gauntlet of distraction. The tyranny of the urgent will go to war with the priority of My presence. The enemy is very time conscious for he knows his time is short – therefore he will intensify his wrath against you and against My Kingdom. Do not put your attention on the enemy but let your eye go beyond the second heaven and garner your instructions from My throne – for I will give you rule over your enemy with an iron hand.

Glory to God!  I know that this is a message from the Lord (Jeremiah 32:8).  We are going to find ourselves in the presence of our enemies, but we will then be shown in a new way that Jesus is Lord!  And we'll be aware of this, but God is going to overshadow the enemy!  We'll know that darkness is around us, but more than that, we'll know that God has already set us a table.  We'll see that He has already given us such favor.  We'll see that He will continue to, "give us this day our daily bread".  Praise Him!

He is going to feed us more richly than ever; He longs to satisfy us with the riches of foods (Psalm 107:9).  He is going to speak to us more clearly, by His Spirit and with truth (John 4:24).  The enemy will try to interfere with this; He will try to make us fall for his schemes.  He will try to exchange the truth for a lie, and place these lies on the Lord's table.  But we have the mind of Christ--we can know the character of God (1 Corinthians 2:16 and context)!  We can "appraise all things" and see them as they really are.  God's given us a Spirit that knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff.  He's given us discernment.  We can know His truth.  We can sense darkness near, while not fearing it.  We can accept only the finest of foods--that which He's given us.

"He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD."  Psalm 112:7

This is what God does.  He takes away our fear and timidity.  He gives us a Spirit that at once recognizes danger yet does not fear it.  God wants us to know that the evil one will not touch us.  Our Lord wants us to have that blessed assurance.  We can and will always be fed by His hand.  We can sit with Him at His table.  He wants to set us there.  He wants to give us rest there.  He wants us to see Him ridiculing the enemy.  Will you take shelter under Him?

"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty."  Psalm 91:1

Rest and Comfort

God has been speaking to me a lot about rest and comfort recently.  It's great to enter His rest!  It's great to be comforted by Him!  It's amazing to be perfectly set at peace by the Lord.  And this rest, this comfort, really came to pass in my life yesterday, and it was such a blessing from the Lord.  In many ways, it came as a fulfillment of prophecy.


Like I said, the theme of rest was fulfilled throughout the day yesterday.  And He gave me rest, so that I could praise Him fully.  He gave me time alone to spend with Him.  He gave me rest on every side.  Wherever I turned, I saw him at work, and I was comforted with a message from Him.  I watched a lot of TV, yes, but I received from the Lord even more quickened messages.   I received from the Lord's mercy such rest and comfort.

Below are confirmations that led up to that point.  In hindsight, God was showing me about the reality of His rest long before I experienced it yesterday!




Confirmed 1/12/15:  That night I was reading in 1st Kings.  I kept reading about peace--the Lord was giving Solomon rest on every side.  What strikes me as important is why God did this.  He did it because Solomon pleased Him!  He did it because it pleased Him that Solomon would build Him a temple.  God honored the desires of His servants, firstly with David and then with his son Solomon.  God gave Solomon rest so that Solomon could set up a life of worship for the people.

"But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side, and there is no adversary or disaster."     1 Kings 5:4



Confirmed Yesterday:  The Holy Spirit brought to remembrance Psalm 23:5.  There were several confirmations for this verse...and I had it playing and replaying in my hear for much of the day:

"You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows."

Spiritually speaking, believers today have enemies as real as those of King David. However, our enemies are not flesh and blood like his.  Instead, they are systems of this world and spiritual powers of darkness in high places (Ephesians 6:12).  The good news is that God still protects us!  He still gives us messages and words--the bread of life--amidst chaos and darkness brought about by the enemy.  He invites us to feast with Him on the Word, and still, enemies and accusers lurk nearby.  But God protects us from these things!  That's what Psalm 23:5 testifies to--the faithfulness of God overcoming all else.

This message of communing with God in the midst of darkness was so timely yesterday.  I was alone in the house all day, and at times I did feel the enemy encroaching.  But God took me through it.  He took me through it and ensured that I was spiritually nourished throughout my time with Him.  More than anything else, I knew He was there with me, preparing a table.  Praise Him!



Confirmed Yesterday:  I felt prompted by the Lord to obtain a "verse of the day".  Something to summarize His lessons; something to paraphrase what He wanted to say...and He gave me John 14:26:

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." 

Glory to God!  What a fit.  The Comforter Himself was teaching me how to find His rest.  The Comforter was comforting me!  He was giving me rest on every side.  It was the Holy Spirit that first brought to my memory Psalm 23:5.  And it was this same Holy Spirit that then gave me the fulfillment, through my experiences later on.  He is the one who gives a word and always fulfills it!  He is the one who comforts us with the truth.  He is the one who gives us rest, regardless of how many enemies attempt to surround us.

 God wants to draw us close.  He wants to teach us all things.  He is faithful to remind us of His rest and comfort.  He is so faithful to protect us and lead us on in the truth.  God wants to bring us rest so we can worship Him.  He wants to give us the Spirit so we can be true worshippers (John 4:24).  In Him, we can draw near and experience true peace.

Snapshot: The Rocket

A few days ago I was organizing copper pipes, and I decided to array them into the shape of a rocket ship.  This may not seem significant...but God is willing to use symbolism in our lives if we will stay sensitive to His leadings.  And if we keep Him in our awareness, He often portrays our missions to us in symbolic ways.

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!"  Romans 11:33

God allows us to learn and partake of His wisdom, if we are faithful and desire Him most of all. Though His judgement is unsearchable through human effort, the Spirit of God reveals to us a portion of His ways.  God wants us to learn from Him.  He wants to show us the deep things of Himself and give us supernatural riches--His wisdom and knowledge!  It is only by His Spirit that this can happen.  Neither human might nor power can pull us any closer to God or His ways (Zechariah 4:6).  But praise the Lord that we have received the Spirit of truth, who works for us to reveal His heavenly riches.


"However, as it is written: "What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived" -- the things God has prepared for those who love him--these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God."  1 Corinthians 2:9-10

The Holy Spirit searches ALL things.  And He teaches us ALL truth.  Yet this same passage says that the human mind cannot conceive God's ways.  His paths are beyond tracing out!  What can we do with this ?  God has the solution--He uses symbolism to translate His thoughts into our hearts and minds.  From Ezekiel's strange demonstrations to Jesus' parables, God has always tried to capture our hearts with symbolism that allows us a conceptualize a portion of what He feels.

Symbolic actions, no matter how insignificant or impractical they may seem, are a perfect way to translate God's ways into human forms.  Now, back to the story of the copper rocket.  I felt led--by His Spirit--to arrange these copper pipes into the shape a rocket think.  I though, hmm, maybe this is a God thing.  It usually is, and why not?  We who are near God need to acknowledge His power (Isaiah 33:13).

Confirmed: I thought no more of this until today.  I went onto the Elijahlist website, and saw the latest article.  It was all about spiritual acceleration, as symbolized by a rocket ship.  God is so creative.  I felt this Elijahlist article--here it is--really testify to a number of things in my life, including my mission for this blog and a future missions trip Vanessa and I are getting guidance for.  Glory to God for allowing anyone who desires to see in part.

Confirmed:  Today Vanessa and I were talking, and all of a sudden she starts singing me "Space Odyssey" by David Bowie.  This song is about an astronaut aboard a rocket ship, who is preparing for takeoff.   She was unaware of the latest Elijahlist article.  So I pulled up the webpage and told her the copper rocket story...and the pieces all came together.

God is doing a major work of spiritual acceleration among many believers.  And why wouldn't He?  If God had His way, He will lead us higher and higher.  Let's prepare our hearts and set our houses in order (Isaiah 38:1) and welcome in the wonderful calling of God.  Let's be taken up by Him into the Kingdom, and let's leave worldly desires behind as we press on towards the goal.

Confirmed 12/12:  Yesterday I began seeing Kindle adds about acceleration.  They are advertising phone coverage, but the theme of acceleration has clear spiritual meanings for me.  The message continues...