Snapshot: Ascending Up To Breakthrough

A few days ago, the Lord showed me a vision of an open door in Heaven.  There was a ladder that led up to this door--a ladder built to ascend upwards on.  And He was saying that we need to ascend up to Him to walk through that door and come to that breakthrough.  I needed to draw nearer to God in order to experience a full blessing, a full revelation, and a full future.

After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."                 Revelation 4:1

Confirmed:  That same day, I saw a new article on the Elijah list by Doug Addison called "Contend For Your Breakthrough".  What a confirmation!  It really is the same Holy Spirit that gives each personal the ability to see in part.

Confirmed:  Also that same day, I stepped out the front door and noticed a shadow that looked just like the ladder and ascension that God had shown me earlier.  Hey, He's in the the little things, too!  God's Spirit quickened that shadow to me...He's funny sometimes.

Confirmed:  Today, a friend of mine was showing me her flower garden.  And she was saying that there was a lot of 'Jacob's Ladder' flowers springing up.  I knew what God was saying...

"He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it."             Genesis 28:12

When we spend time in the presence of the Lord, we should be expectant.  We should be hungering and thirsting for Him.  We should boldly approach the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16)!  God wants us to come up near Him and receive from Him more than enough wisdom for the day.

Video: Building Faith--It takes Positive Reinforcement!

Faith comes from hearing (Romans 10:17).  The more faith we have in God, the more equipped we are to have Him speak to us.  And the more equipped we are, the more He can give us the specifics (Mark 4:11)!

Each person sees (hears) in part, according to their measure of faith.  As we hear, we speak, and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit takes us onwards into specifics.  As faith is built, God's knowledge is revealed.  That's when words of knowledge, words of wisdom, words of prophecy flow.

I'm not aware of anyone who received more accurate words of knowledge than William Branham. Now, I do think he got off base, especially near the end of his life, when it came to his theology...but I believe he was a child of God who the Spirit used in amazing ways.

 


What an example of how faith makes a way for the prophetic to flow.  What an example of the Spirit of prophecy!  If more people in the body of Christ operated in even a fraction of this insight, I think we'd be making a lot more disciples.  Praise God!

"We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith..."                    Romans 12:6

He's Given Us All Dominion...Thankfully!

Yesterday Vanessa and I walked down back to the pond, where we sat on the grass and talked for a while.  See, Tuesday marked our one year anniversary--May 12th, last year, was the day that God told us that we'd be married. What an adventure...time goes by so fast.  It's become even easier to see God's blessings; to see how His power has kept us moving forward.

And we took time at the pond to make new pledges to each other and just look back on all the memories that The Lord's given us so far.   What a year it's been!  We could never have dreamed up a story so dramatic, so beautiful, or so thoughtful.  And we didn't have to, because God did the planning for us.

We were joined on our walk by our cat, Fearless.  He showed up at just the right time, and then followed us down to the pond--he's such a ministering spirit!  He was hanging around nearby during our time together, too.  God has him on puppet strings--that's how often he's used to speak to us.

And after a while, Vanessa and I got into prayer.  We're holding hands in prayer, facing each other, when Fearless came up.  Then he climbed right up onto our laps, right between us, and laid a paw on each of our legs.  Like I said, what a minister!  He stayed there, just resting, for the remainder of our praying.  I think He sensed the Holy Spirit!  Praise God, once we got into really praying and speaking God's heart, Fearless just didn't want to leave.

Anyways, God ensured that all three of us had a wonderful time.  V and I finished praying and stood up, ready to head back.  It was just getting dark--around 8:30--and we were ready to go.  There was a loud crackling noise in the woods, probably 100 feet away, but I discounted it as noise after noticing that Vanessa wasn't too concerned.

We're getting ready to leave when we noticed Fearless acting strange...then all of a sudden, things changed.  I looked towards my left, out into the wood line, and felt the fear sink into me.

There was a large, brilliant white animal running towards us.  It looked like a big cat--like a bobcat or mountain lion. And it was running and jumping, coming right towards us.  I watched, kind of shocked, as it sprinted out from the wood line and into the field we were at the edge of. I said to Vanessa, "Oh my gosh, there's something over there.  It's big.  Run, run, run!"

And we took off running!  It was pretty intense.  I keep looking back towards my left, and I could see this animal coming towards us.  I yelled at Vanessa to run faster--I wanted her to stay ahead of me and away from the cat--and in that moment, my mind started to wander and the flashbacks started coming...

"...Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end...."                 Ecclesiastes 3:11

...And I was thinking to the Lord, 'is this it?' I felt that whatever was chasing us would soon finish me off.  I began thinking of eternity, and noticed peace begin to displace some of the fear that had come on. 'It won't be so bad', I thought.  'I just want Vanessa to run faster and stay ahead of me.'  

In that initial ten seconds of running, the Lord had gotten me pretty well prepared for the end.  But then, all of a sudden, something clicked.  'No, this can't be it!  It's not our time yet.  Maybe there's a way out of all this...'  

Then I semi-randomly remembered some of St Francis of Assisi's epic encounters with animals   (I'll let you decide on their validity for yourselves, but hey, what stories) ....and thought, 'hey, maybe there's hope!'



** SIDE NOTE:

Now, I've seen dogs, cats, birds, and even hornets obey commands given in the name of Jesus.  There was one dog in particular that just wouldn't listen to me--I wanted it to stay inside it's gate--until I commanded it to stay off the porch in Jesus' name.  When I was in the flesh, this dog behaved terribly, but when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, it would literally bow down before me.

"You have made them a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned them with glory and honor.  You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet..."     Psalm 8:5-6 **



So, the flashbacks continued, and I realized what I needed to do.  This current situation was a little more intense than any previous encounter with animals I'd had, but God took hold of me nonetheless. And I remembered to use His name.

Still running, and still urgently shouting at Vanessa to "run faster!!!", I looked back, put out my hand, and commanded that animal--that giant cat-- to stop in the name of Jesus.  I was still scared, but I knew God was bringing me up under His authority.  I was still really scared, actually, but I felt held up by a power greater than myself.

I didn't see any more flashes of white after that.  I didn't see anything chasing us--it must have turned off or stopped.  Praise God.  Still, we kept running all the way back to the house.  I kept telling Vanessa to run faster.  I didn't want her to get eaten or anything! We looked back again and again, and there was....nothing.  It was as if the whole experience had happened miles away.

We got back to the house a little shocked, still having a hard time believing what had happened.  I knew God had protected us.  Our sprint to safety probably took a minute, yet I think that thing could have caught us within 20 seconds at the speed it was going.  In hindsight, God led me to take authority.  And He allowed that situation to begin in order to reveal to us His authority.  He turned a dangerous situation around for the good!

Wow.  Talk about a rush!  We went back inside, and I began doubting what I saw.  I got on the computer and researched white bobcats (they do exist!).  Also, as it turns out, Vanessa never saw anything--she just responded to my shouting and took off.  But I had seen the cat, twice...and so I asked God to confirm the reality of what just happened.  Right away, He gave us via 'random chance' a verse in Genesis, Genesis 1:26:

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."

Wow!  What a confirmation--that was my first thought.  God gave us dominion in that situation.  He preserved our lives according to His Word (Psalm 119:25).  What a way to culminate our time at the pond.  God sure makes things exciting.

Vanessa thought it so fitting that this happened right after our pledges, as she said that it showed her that I really would lay down my life for her.  She described to me afterwards that I'd told her, "just keep going, I'll be OK!" while we were running for our lives.  (It's a little blurry to me now.)  She said, as this had happened right after our pledges, that God was allowing us to be in a situation that proved my love for her.  She said that after this, she'll never doubt my love for her.  Like I said, God keeps life exciting and really does work everything for the good!

Light in Their Eyes

"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light." Matthew 6:22

Recently the Lord has brought this back to our attention. We've all probably noticed it at some point--you can often tell if someone is a Christian if they have light in their eyes.  And beyond that, the measure of light seen often correlates directly with the strength of that person's relationship to God.
If our eye is single--if all our attention is being used up on God-- then there won't be any darkness left in us.    And that's where God is taking us!  That's what the Father wants.  He wants a people who have been so tangibly transfigured by Him that their eye--their whole countenance--show it.

There is another side to this. Unfortunately, some people aren't saved.  And some of those people are harboring unclean spirits, or even demons.  How do I know?  Well, if nothing else, you can see it in their eyes.

Even among the saved, some people don't have as much of that visible light as they could.  Maybe they've become distracted.  Maybe they lost somebody.  I've heard that some people lose their light--they lose that positive countenance--after something terrible happened in their lives.  That's why we need to fix our eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2).  He'll perfect our inner light.  He'll perfect the work of the Spirit within us.  That's why we need to keep our attention 'single'--solely focused on Him.  He is greater than this the darkness of this present world.  He is greater than our own problems. If we look to Him, He will change us, and we will begin to take on His light.  That's what our Lord wants.

What About The "Outer Witness"?

In the book of Revelation, we have described to us two witnesses.  Now, this reference may be symbolic, it may be literal, it may be both.  Either way, I think that we can apply this concept to our own personal walk, too.  Recently the Lord has been speaking to us about what I'll call the 'outer witness' of the Holy Spirit.

"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."           Isaiah 30:21

We all know about the inner witness that God gives us.  It may come as a still, small voice.  It may come as a strong unction, or a supernatural knowing.  It may come as a conviction.  Now, keep in mind that God confirms Himself by two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1). So then, what about external witnesses?  What about confirmations and promptings outside of ourselves?  That's where the outer witness comes in.

"The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."         John 3:8

Remember that the Holy Spirit can be likened to a strong wind--a ruach (Hebrew).  And I find that the wind is a medium through which God's Spirit often shows Himself.  Many times, I'll be outside and God will use the natural wind to speak to me.  I'll get the inner witness--the Lord will prompt me to head inside, for example.  Then, just a few seconds later, the wind direction will change, and gently push me towards where God's word already had me headed.  This is an external confirmation, and it establishes what God has already set into motion.  It's the outer witness.

Other times, the Holy Spirit may manifest as wind--inside! This is more rare (at least in my experience).
But sometimes, there comes into a room a supernatural and completely unexplainable wind.  What is it?  It's a sign!  It's a sign that the presence of the Spirit has come in.  I've noticed this happens must often in church.  But the Lord may do this anywhere!

Beyond wind, there are many other ways that God speaks through nature.  All creation serves to praise Him! And beyond that, there are many other ways that He gives an outer witness.  He my confirm Himself through another Christian, through a close friend, or even through something that an unsaved stranger says.  He may 'establish a matter' through a billboard's message, through a license plate, or through a street sign.  The possibilities are endless!  And all of these things are gifts from above, sent down from the Father to confirm His word.

We who are near God are commanded to acknowledge His power (Isaiah 33:13).  As believers, God wants us to have out faith built up by His outer witness.  He wants His Spirit within us to be communing, to be one, with His Spirit's working around us.  He wants us to grow from faith to faith.  The Lord wants to accomplish in us what He's already done among us.  He wants to have us walk into the establishment of His word.

When The Power of God is Present

"And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them."      Luke 5:17

How does the power of God show up today?  It shows up when people are desperate.  It shows up when people turn their desperation into expectation.  It shows up when faith is activated and people expect the Holy Spirit to work miracles!

Ministry becomes so much easier when the power of the Lord is present to heal.  Everything is easier when the power of God is there!  The Spirit of love comes in, and things start happening.  Events start aligning.  People start aligning.  Ministry breaks out, and so does the miraculous.

I remember about a year ago, Vanessa and I were praying for a man with back pain.  We were right outside our favorite restaurant, and a few people were beginning to take notice.  The Lord healed this man pretty dramatically.  Wonderful!  And then another man, an easygoing catholic guy, came up.  He wanted to know what was going on.

And then this second guy remarked that he, too, had back pain.  Vanessa and I knew what to do.  Faith had already been activated!  So, the guy talks about his back hurting, and continues walking up to us.  When he got close, I asked him how he was feeling now.  He said all the pain was gone!  Nobody prayed for him.  See, Jesus was there all along.  The Holy Spirit had already set up shop among us.  The power of the Lord overshadowed us.  The power of the Lord was present to heal.

This is what we need today, and it needs to begin within the Church.  We as Christians need His power enveloping us! We as believers need to be ministered to!

Once we ourselves are within God's power, then we can minister out of it!  Those not yet saved need to be exposed to the power.  They need to be exposed to the manifest presence of Jesus.  Those not yet convicted will only be convicted when the power of the Lord is present.  They'll only be saved when the supernatural power of God begins to flow.  This is a place of ministry.  This is a place of love.  This is a place of being inhabited by the Holy Spirit.  We need to have the Spirit, and we need to have His power.  We need to have been so touched by Him that wherever we go, the power of the Lord is present to heal.


"...And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power"         1 Corinthians 2:4

Declarations Make A Way

A recent theme--declarations!  God says something, we believe it, and then we speak it.  Receive, believe, achieve!

There are two types of declarations I want to go into here.  We can declare things from the written word, or we can declare things from the spoken word.  Both types can be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led, but one usually requires more discernment than another.  Let's look at both.

1)  Written-Word Declarations

Here we recite something written in God's Word--we take a written promise and make it our own.  For example, I may say, 'I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus'.  This is truth, according to 2 Corinthians 5:21.  Believing the Word, and hearing and speaking it, is how we are sanctified.  We are sanctified by the truth! (John 17:17)

We can also declare scripture when we are tempted by the devil.  Remember, that's what Jesus did!  So the Word is for upliftment, but it's also for warfare--it's our sword and our weapon for battle.

2)  Spoken-word Declarations

These can be tricker.  We need ears to hear; we need our own spiritual ears to be closely attuned.  The voice of the Holy Spirit is worth listening for!  For example, today the Lord showed me the shield of faith, and prompted me to pray that over myself.  So I did.  Another example--I may hear the Spirit speak strength to my body.  What should my response be?  Well, probably to speak strength to myself.  That's where faith comes in!  If God said it, then I need to believe it.  Do I feel stronger?  Yes!  Because it is written!  The joy of the Lord is my strength.

We declare what God says first.  If God didn't set the precedent, our declarations probably won't work. Remember that Job's friends were wrong! We need to be in tune, discerning, and not presumptuous.  We need to value His voice.

Written-Word and spoken-word declarations go hand in hand!  They feed off of each other!  We can have the Bible confirmed by hearing His personal voice, and we can confirm our rhema words by testing them against scripture.   Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), and hearing comes in many forms.

When we declare God's will, it looses the heavens.  It loosens angels and an empowerment of the Holy Spirit.  It loosens any blockages and binds any opposition.  God's will comes down unrestrained, on earth as it is in Heaven!  That's what declaring does!  It brings us up into God's reality.  It brings up our faith, and our faith takes us to a place where God really is.  Declarations make a way.

Snapshot: Praying For The Holy Spirit

A few days ago, I was praying along with a prayer from "The Century of the Holy Spirit", a book documenting the history of the Pentecostal and charismatic renewal.  And I felt the Lord wanting me to repeat this prayer...so I just prayed along.  I asked the Holy Spirit to come and fill all churches that would want Him.

Just a few seconds later, the Lord gave a wonderful confirmation.  The TV was on in the background, and I heard, 'We've found a place of you to stay'.  Of course, this was quickened to me as having a special meaning--a spiritual meaning!  Praise God!  We invite Him in, then He finds a resting place.

Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."                                       Matthew 8:20

Then he called to me, "Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north."                    Zechariah 6:8

"Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full."                                                   John 16:24

Isn't that wonderful?  God can be welcomed in by us.  He allows our longing for Him to change things.  We are His children, and we are His place of habitation.  If we ask Him, He will come to us. We need to pour ourselves out and allow God to come in and change things!  We need to invite Him in, because He is more desperate to come in than we are.  We need to pray that the Lord would send His Spirit into any place that would value Him.

All About Visions: Intercession

So, this marks the last post (for now!) in this "All About Visions" series.  And I wanted to describe one of the most wonderful and common ways that the Lord gives visions.  Often, we receive a vision for intercession!  We receive from God a vision and it's message so we know how to specifically intercede.

Intercession is wonderful even if we don't know what to pray for.  God is still pleased!  However, Spirit led intercession is the best.  We pray through the struggles of others, as God reveals to us just what those are.  And one of the easiest ways for us to conceptualize Him--His thoughts towards whoever we're praying for-- is through a vision, sent by Him!

So, we pray through another's trials for ourselves, until we have attained to spiritual rest. When you're in the Spirit, you just know when it's time to fight.  Conversely, you also just know when the faith comes in and the battle's already been won.  Sometimes God moves into victory very quickly!  So it's important to be attuned to His heart.

Let's say you're praying for your friend.  And you see a turtle swimming for part of your prayer. Visions for intercession, like always, fall into several (broad) categories.  Also like always, they may have more than one meaning:

1) There is some Christian symbolism here--you're friend is the sea turtle

2) There is some Christian symbolism here--someone in your friend's life is the sea turtle

3) This is a literal vision--maybe your friend loves turtles, or just lost their pet turtle

OK, most visions are not meant to be interpreted physically or literally--especially when it comes to intercession.  But since God gave the vision, we need to look back to Him for the interpretation, also. God may give a vision and speak a word, but He may just give the vision, because He wants you to ask Him to speak a word.  This is where relationship with the Holy Spirit comes in.  We need an accurate inner witness.  Anyways...

So...vision, interpretation, now what?  Well, then we can pray!  Based on what God revealed, there will be things to pray for, or things to pray against, or things to pray into.  There may be things to simply thank God for--things that He's already done.  There are many variables here, but He can lead during this also! All we need to do is pray according to His will.  All we need to do is ask Him to bring Heaven down onto earth.

With the Lord's leading--with visions and insights from Him--intercession can be done from a point of victory.  We don't have to struggle in the flesh!  We don't (necessarily) need to go on and on with long, general prayers.  We don't need to fight or worry, thinking that our mind is going to wander. We can be in a place of spiritual rest, knowing that all we need to do is repeat after God.

Now, there's many places for long prayers, but what I am saying is that one minute with God's passion is often enough.  One minute under the power and influence of the Holy Spirit--one minute of targeted intercession--is enough.  You'll already feel the victory!  You'll feel the heart of God stirring up to carry out justice.

Intercession is meant to be a joy, not a burden.  For me, it used to be a burden--until I yielded to God's love for another!  That's when He made His love my own.  And that's when passion came. That's when visions and revelations came!  And that's when I knew what it pleased Him to pray for.

Snapshot: The God of Peace

Yesterday morning, the Lord specifically lead me to pray for Vanessa's peace.  And that got me thinking about the connection between peace, patience, and prayer.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."                    John 14:27

Since we belong to God, we can have His peace always with us.  It can be unconditional! That's what Jesus is referring to when He describes His gift--it's not given with conditions, as the world would give.  Even then, however, we have a choice.  We are given the option to let ourselves be troubled, and we are given the option to give way to fear.

"Now may the God who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus..."                                   Romans 15:5 AMP

Peace begins with a prayer, and so does patience.  If we have peace, it will probably lead us to do many things more slowly than we have done them in the past.  Peace will lead us to humility and trust.  Peace will lead us to patience.  If we have patience, then we will be content to let God's will--His plan, His purposes, His surprises--just flow into our future.

If we have been given His peace leading onto patience, we won't be presumptuous.  We won't rush into things too fast.  We won't become anxious when the next surprise comes.  Instead, we will be pushed at the Spirit's pace into the future with peace like a river (Isaiah 48:18).  We will take time to be still and wait on the Lord  (Psalms 37:7).  We will listen to others with humility, love, and godly discernment.  And we will bear such good fruit!

"This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.…"      James 1:19-1:20