Five-Fold Today A Cry for Destiny - Favor, Authority, Honor and Appreciation - Fitly Joined - Servant Anointing - The Bears - Working With God - In The Arena of Life

August 23, 2001

A Cry for Destiny

By Chad Taylor

This is a generation that longs for demonstration not imagination. They want the real thing. You must meet them where they are, not where you are. We must take down the advertisements we so proudly fly that say, "You come to us on our terms or do not bother coming at all... We are right, you are wrong... You must see Jesus as we see Him or you just can't have Him... You will dress like us, act like us, and most certainly believe like us..."

It is no wonder we are losing a whole generation to animated heroes on T.V. and con men on the street corners! We have built a steeple that is to high to attain to! We have taken the manger and built a cathedral! All the while they perish as we continue to build higher, higher, and higher... As they sink in the mire of religion and apathy, never knowing who they are and why they were born. We must, before millions more perish in hopelessness, condescend to these of low estate and give them the reality of Christ. In all Its blood and guts, scourging and mocking, death and resurrection. We must take off the mask of doctrinal indifference and reveal to them the scars...

Now, now is the time to shout down the fortified walls of clerical callousness and cry out "GRACE, GRACE!" To this mountain of sin that threatens to landslide our youth into oblivion. We must go to them NOW and show them a Christ that is living and breathing and filled with compassion for their future. We must cast off the starched collar of religion and bleed as He bled for their lives and souls. Who will give heed to this? Who will give ear to the time to come? Who will sweat and bleed for the least of these? Who will give ear to the cry of the orphan and widow? Will we stand by idle and dumb as the die? Will the ox fall into the pit of despair as we rest? Or will we rise up in vehement desire to see them saved and redeemed? Or must we hear the words of the Master, "I never knew you..."

It is a time of passion. Passion for the Heart of the Father. Passion for His desire, to hear the cry of His heart and respond, "HERE AM I, SEND ME!" A milling scuffling shifting tide of humanity awaits are quickening. Awaits the man, the woman, the child, that says, "I am crucified with Christ... It is no longer I that live but He that lives in me..." How long will we wait to fulfill the ministry He has entrusted us with? Paul said he was TRUSTED with the gospel he preached! And woe to him if he did not preach it!

When will we shake off the dust of church policy and invade a desperate dying world with His blazing love and compassion? Who will seek the favor of God more than the fading fake favor of man? Paul was bold to proclaim, "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? FOR IF I STILL PLEASED MEN, I WOULD NOT BE A BONDSERVANT OF CHRIST..." (Galatians 1:10) This generation needs that kind of love! They need Christians that will dare to share and to go to them, and show them, the reality of Jesus in earthen vessels.

Jesus commanded in Matthew 10:7, " And AS you go preach..." Not IF you go! But rather WHEN you go! We need the strategy of Heaven to take this generation as Gideon took the Midianites. God told Gideon, "...you shall defeat the Midianites as ONE man..." That is strategy! That is warfare that will prevail! Let us go to Him then for vision and then go to them with power!

First you must meet them on their own turf, with their own sound, their own feel. You must show them you care enough to accept them as they are, as Christ did. Then you must give them the anointing not religion. It is the anointing delivered in love that will break every yoke. Religion is a frequency they do not understand, they only perceive the unadulterated power of God. This is their language, their creed. They desire His power and His love. They need destiny... That is what will change them. To show them who they are, who they could be, and where they are going, in Christ.

They need to hear a sound that they have not heard, and yet long to hear. Even as they were astounded to hear Jesus in the streets because He spoke like no other man spoke. So they must hear a sound that no man could fabricate or duplicate, a sound of a rushing mighty wind, the sound of Heaven... This is the sound that will arrest their hearts and convince them of their dire need for His love and grace. The only question is, will there be any that have the courage to step outside the confines of "church" as we understand it and show them the real Thing? The purity and passion of the KING?

They long for such a sound, such a sign, such a landmark to show them the Way in this gross darkness. This generation is waiting for the sound of their call and destiny, and hell beware when they do... They will usher in the coming of Christ. First, in their passion and desire for Him, and THEN, in the sky...

God is calling now to a vanguard of men and women to lead this generation from the catacombs of slavery and oppression. To understand the signs of the times, as Joseph, and prepare their hearts for the time to come. The hearts this generation are the storehouses He desires for us to store up in. These young lives are the eternal investment that give eternal reward.

Who will be a wise steward? Who will hear the Master's heart? Who will lay aside personal agenda and set their affections on things above? This is the time of living sacrifices! Let hell smell the smoke of our bushels burning by the fire of passion and desire for His Kingdom come, His will be done! Now is the time for that kind of love!

Consuming Fire Prophetic Network
lionheart@gci.net

Favor, Authority, Honor and Appreciation

Undrai & Bridget Fizer

Maturing apostolic/prophetic ministers must first understand this life process in order to be effective in their administration. (personally effective in themselves, thoughts, and apostolic attitude)

Favor can be on your life from the Spirit of God, an anointed "attraction," if you will. There can be a "aura" of anointing in you. It will create an atmosphere of relationships toward you. You will gain an access into the hearts and conversations of others. The door of opportunity will suddenly be opened towards you.

However, you must be careful. Favor does not mean that you have "arrived" in anointing or character. You can still be dealing with "sin or incompleteness," and still have favor. Pride is the downfall for people with favor. You may have favor without wisdom, and find yourself speaking "out of turn." Favor does not mean you are ready to fulfill your apostolic mandate. You still must be accountable to seasoned, mature, ministry. Favor is a good thing, but it must be handled rightly and with maturity. Favor is not the ministry.

Favor doesn't mean you have arrived!

Your authority comes with godly impartation and your maturity with handling favor (and pride, at that particular level. It does not mean that you will not have to handle it again at another level.) It comes when you have the ability to impart and release the life of God into others. You will have developed the ability to walk comfortably in your life's destiny. You have gained a voice to speak. You know your limitations and your boundaries. You understand your place in the Body. You are not a duplicate of another man's process and experiences. You know the word of God within you and how to help others achieve it. You may receive confirmation, but you are not a seeker of confirmation only. You have the ability to "see" the confirmation. You know what God has said, even if others do not see it in you. But as you continue in the journey, the Spirit will find you, and expose God's authority in you to others. You have realized that anyone can be in charge, but God's power is in those who carry His mantle.

It does not matter who you are or your gender. His authority is His seal of approval of your ministry and life administration. He knows that you are secure in Him and His word for your life. When others will not approve you according to their "preconceived standards" or "criteria," the Spirit will approve you because He has watched you master the season of favor.

Authority in the Father enables you to submit more passionately to Him, not without Him. Authority does not release you from submission. It identifies you with submission. You are the "bondslave" of the Father. The marks of His apostleship are embedded within your flesh.

And your mind.

Honor comes when this quality is recognized. But you will not have to seek it. You will not have to "market" yourself for it. Honor is a quality that may be given to you in the quiet confines of home. Or, on the street. It will not always be given in public. Honor is a mature quality. Some people honor to get. This is flattery with a motive to manipulate. Do not compromise your life for flattery. Flattery is politics. Do not compromise your life for political gain. Do not compromise your anointing to "rub shoulders" with a master speaker. Honor is a mature quality. Honor comes to those who have died to personal glory (a hard death to die). Honor comes with time and patience. It comes through the seasons of rejection and abuse. It comes from the quiet places of the Spirit, when God will say, "I am honored to know you." Do not desire flattery above true honor.

Honor is a mature quality.

Appreciation comes when your work and toil is recognized within another. When your sons and daughters in the gospel are trusted and recognized by their faith and pursuit of God, the Spirit will release a season of appreciation towards you. Your labor will be remembered as your fruit displays itself in their blessings towards God. Appreciation is when your life speaks for itself. It comes when your fruits are recognized by God, Himself. God seeks and recognizes that you do "good work." He trusts your work (because He knows that it's Him doing it, and "you know" that it's Him doing it). Your work will follow you, no matter what city, state, or country it may be in. It will follow you.

The kingdom is based on favor, authority, honor, and appreciation. The things must be mastered by life and seasons of change. It must be mastered in times of victory and times of defeat. It must be mastered in times of abundance and times of want.

Continue the journey. Explore the vision.

We will talk again...
Undrai & Bridget Fizer
Kingpriest@aol.com

Fitly Joined

By Pastor Jana Alcorn

From whom the whole Body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the Body unto the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:16

As empowering leaders, we have been called as a team, a network of Kingdom builders. Dynamic, individual anointings combine together to form a power plant for the Holy Ghost to seize for His purposes.

An extreme apostolic mandate has been sent forth from the heavenlies and we are discovering our place in the Spirit. We are fitly joined together. We have spiritual joining. There is a coming together and we will fulfill His purposes.

Our spiritual joining with the Lord and with one another has nothing to do with religious politics, our resumes and interviews, or fleshly manipulation. But rather, it is a “spiritual finding” that draws two or more together to produce an outcome that far exceeds an individual anointing. We seek to find those with whom God has connected us in spiritual formation.

It is time to identify those with whom we are “fitly joined” and to make a covenant of commitment so that the Body may grow. (Read Ephesians 4:16 repeatedly)

Jonathan and David even made verbal expressions of their mutual commitment and joining.

Demonic strategies have been released to hinder and stop the flow of God’s spiritual joining. Why? Because the spiritual synergy created by this union will be devastating for the kingdom of darkness. We must yield to this joining one to another.

There are numerous biblical examples of spiritual joining. First of all, the premier example is the oneness of relationship of the Father and the Son. Jesus said of his spiritual joining of the Father, “Even as we are one...” (John 17:21).

Then, we see the unity, even the union of the Lord and His Church. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” ( I Corinthians 6:17)

And then one to another in the Body of Christ, there is union. “Father make them one, even as we are one.” (John 17:21)

We could look at others such as Elijah-Elisha, Naomi-Ruth, Rufus’ Mother-Paul, Paul-Timothy, and Adam and Eve.

However, a beautiful example of spiritual joining is David and Jonathan. Consider some of the activations of this spiritual joining.

1. SELFISH MOTIVES ARE ELIMINATED THROUGH LOVE.

Jonathan loved David. Jonathan was joined to David. Jonathan did not have a selfish motive in his joining to David. He just loved him. When David came back from battle with the head of Goliath in his hand, warrior to warrior, Jonathan’s heart was joined to him. ( See I Samuel 18:3)

2. HUMILITY ALWAYS PREFERS ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE.

Jonathan stripped himself of all symbols of royalty in favor of David. Jonathan, Saul’s son, could have probably been promoted to Kingship himself, instead of David. However, the humility in this joining removed the rivalry. In Jonathan’s humility to yield to this spiritual union, we see no jealousy, no competition, no hatred, no envy. He preferred David in love. ( I Samuel 18:4)

3. UNWAVERING LOYALTY EVEN IN THE FACE OF OPPOSITION.

Proverbs 17:17 states that “ a brother is born for adversity.”

Jonathan was a friend who knew how to be closer than any brother. He went against the flow of the natural. His own father made numerous attempts to kill David. However, the soul of Jonathan and David as knit together. They were intertwined inwardly. No betrayal here. Unlike Judas, whose symbol of affection became the sign of betrayal, Jonathan remained devoted to David. His loyalty was unquestionable. ( I Samuel 18:1)

Many will never be released into the fullness of their own destinies until they find their spiritual joinings. Some need to find a David, so that you might be a Jonathan. This doesn’t happen through fleshly maneuvers, but by being knit together in a oneness that the Lord alone can give. It is deep calling unto deep. It is costly! God will give you a capacity for this if you are willing to be “fitly joined.”

INSIDE THE SEED

“God testified concerning him, I have found David son of Jesse a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.” Acts 13:22

After all is said and done, it is God’s opinion that matters most.

LEADERSHIP LINES

The person who lives for himself is a failure. God guides, but He also governs. Money magnifies what you already are. No stretch, no catch. God is a speaking God. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

PROPHETIC WORD

This season is for your benefit, says the Lord. The reinforcements of this strength will empower you to new levels. I have brought spiritual sustenance and fresh input and there have I commanded a blessing, even life.

I charge you to come into the fullness of what I want to do. I have called you forth as a Jonathan unto a David and much shall be accomplished. It is time to speak often of this, even to make a commitment. I have spoken in many shadows of my intentions, says the Lord. Nothing shall be impossible through the union of My Word and My Spirit moving in the relationships of My people. Above all, keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of My peace.

I am aware of the forces of evil that would seek to prevent My plan from being achieved, but now is the time to surrender to My call and yield to what I am doing. Only as you release and surrender your mind and your will to Me can I bring you into your destiny. There is no need to question Me on this. Behold Me! says the Lord!

Pastor Jana Alcorn
JAlcorn@aol.com

Servant Anointing

Ras Robinson

You have a servant anointing. You have done well in serving. This brings great pleasure to my heart as I remember you. You are laying down your life even as did Jesus that you might serve others. It has been said that only slaves serve but I say unto you that those who are slaves and friends of mine will joyously walk in the servant anointing. Jesus did not come to be served but rather to serve. And he lives in you to still do what he did while physically on the earth. Even more will Jesus do now that he lives not only in you but also in your brothers and sisters in the total body of Christ. I am highly pleased when you serve. You have a servant anointing.

Matthew 20:25-28 “But Jesus called them to Himself, and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26"It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Ras and Bev Robinson
Fullness in Christ Church Ministries
Fullness in Christ Church
http://www.fullnessonline.org
E-mail: rasrobinson@fullnessonline.org

The Bears

Dee

For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford but far more. And they did it of their own free will. The begged us again and again for the gracious privilege of sharing in the gift for the Christians in Jerusalem. Best of all, they went beyond our highest hopes, for their first action was to dedicate themselves to the Lord and to us for whatever directions God might give them. I Cor. 8:3-5

We have a bear. It's not actually "our" bear, it lives nearby and we've claimed him as "ours". But almost every night it comes and forages through the trash bins on our street. Saturday night we stood on our porch and watched him. He's big and he makes and incredible mess. Many people get very frustrated with him, some try to chase him off but I like him. It seems a little thing, him eating the trash, in exchange for the land we live on in the forest he calls home. As I listen to different people's attitudes on the bear, I thought about the parallels to Christians and their attitudes toward others. Some people want the bear caught and removed. Others want locks on the trash bins. Still others want someone else to be responsible, can't "someone" do something about the mess he makes? There are many people in the world "foraging" for "something" spiritually. Some are very difficult, full of the kinds of problems most people just want to avoid--and they can be a pain. Some are "smelly" like our bear I suppose if we got close enough, not just in a physical sense but with all the problems that they have in life. Some are just a mess and they seem to make a mess with their life everywhere they go. But they all need spiritual food. They all need Jesus Christ. They all need to grow in Christ once they come to Him. So many times we leave them to forage in the trash bins of life instead of reaching out to make a difference. We give, but we give on a "schedule". We look for things that meet our "approval", or we simply give a specific amount at a specific time without ever thinking of how big the need is. Paul commended the church in Macedonia. They had the least, they were poor and struggling but they wanted to help the Christians in Jerusalem. So they gave. In fact, they begged Paul to allow them to help out. They gave because they wanted to be part of what God was doing in Jerusalem. They wanted to make a difference. They wanted to have the gracious privilege of helping. But first, they didn't just get out their checkbooks because a few could afford it. First, they dedicated themselves to the Lord and to Paul's team and whatever direction God might give them.

There are a lot of "bears" in the world right outside your door step. They are looking for "food", desperately trying to find something worthwhile in the myriad of garbage of life. There are people who want to help them, desire to reach them to be there for them. Today, ask yourself the hard question, why do you give? Do you give because someone told you to somewhere in your Christian walk? Or do you give for the gracious privilege of sharing in the gift for those who are in need? Are you first dedicated to the Lord and to the purpose of ministry for whatever directions God gives you? Today, as the Lord leads, be generous in your life. Give what you can afford, give beyond that for the gracious privilege of sharing in the gift for those in need. Today, consider all that God has done for you. Today, see a world in need of Christ. Today, look beyond the outward appearance, the inconvenience, the surface of things to the deeper, spiritual rewards of giving. Today, feed the bears.

Grace and peace,
Dee

Working With God

Chimezie Onyebilama

For we are God’s fellow workers…” 1 Corinthians 3:9

Ministry is not meant to be man laboring for God, but rather man laboring with God. It is possible to struggle on trying to do God’s work with man’s strength, but God’s work can only be done through God’s strength. It can bring a lot of frustration to try to do it otherwise.

The essence of ministry is that God is doing something through us. Look at the Acts of Apostles and see how God, the Holy Spirit was fully at work in every work those early workers worked. If we don’t see God in our ministry we need to stop and re-examine things. If you do not see the miraculous, the unexplainable in your service for God then stop and check up what strength you are serving with. If our work is God’s then we would be able to trace his hand in it.

Perhaps the reason we do not see God’s hand is that we are too self-confident to seek him and his strength. Someone has said “when man works, man works, but when man prays, God works”.

chim_ibidun@hotmail.com

In truth I tell you, he who believes in Me shall do the works I do, and greater works shall he do, for I am going to the Father. John 14:12

In The Arena of Life

Jim Grayson

Jesus replied, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." Luke 18:27

I can do everything through Him Who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing."

John 15:5 Simple, honest observation of the present day Body of Christ reveals a largely man-made organization, built on man-made denominations, adhering to man-made traditions and beliefs, resisting the Holy Spirit's attempts at change...and slowly dying on the vine because they have become detached from the Vine. They largely think they are still attached but their lack of power bespeaks otherwise. They feel their "good works" are the only sign of the Kingdom of God but they are wrong. We have had enough talk. We've talked until we're worn out, and the world worn out from listening. It's time for action, to pick up the Word, believe It and press the battle against the enemy, rather than running and hiding around the edges of this arena called LIFE, trying to find a place to hide to keep the enemy off of us. We have allowed the enemy who roars like a lion to devour too many of us, refusing to face the truth, claiming the only victory we have is when we die and go Home, when all along, our Lord wanted us to have victory here, now, in this world. We sing about victory in Jesus, even as we die horrible deaths by diseases from which our Lord Jesus suffered and died to free us. He said He came to give us abundant life...on this earth.

I've said before that we're too smart for our own good. What we've missed in our spiritual walk is the power our Lord gave us to defeat the enemy. To say again that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential to fighting a merciless enemy is redundant. There are still far too many folks out there who will not believe, no matter what, because it doesn't line up with their man-made doctrines and denominational organizations and besides, they wouldn't want to have to deal with the gift of tongues, anyway. It's easier to say the gifts were for "yesterday" or of the devil, than it is to seek God and find the Truth.

The Truth...Jesus said we would know the Truth and it would make us free. The problem is, thus far, we only know a portion of the Truth, although it is all laid out in the Word of God. We are far to shallow in our thinking, and by being so, we limit God's work in and through our lives. When a Spirit-filled person walks with God, there is nothing that cannot be known or revealed at a given time, nor is there any limit to what can be done if God ordains it. Can you imagine someone asking Jesus a question and Him answering, "I don't know,"? Of course, not. But one may say, "Yes, but He was the Son of God," to which I would say, "Yes, but so am I because the Word says so." If we allow God to loose Himself in our lives, there is nothing we cannot do. No limitations. Jesus said so Himself in the works and greater works statement He made in John 14:12, the life Scripture He gave me way back in 1978 when He called me back to Him.

Let's take a look at some things in this world. We have all sorts of people looking for answers to life problems. That's why so many resort to astrology, tarot cards and the like. They don't realize that these people work in league with familiar spirits. Look, however, at the fact that sometimes, these spirits reveal accurate information, just as the so-called psychic knows the location of something of someone. Now, if the enemy forces know these things, how much mores so does God?

My heart aches when I see the pictures of missing children posted here and there in certain stores. I have longed for years to be able to help parents find missing children, even if the news I bring is not good. At least, they would know what happened. And if I knew these things, then I'd also be able, by the power of God, to know who did it and where they were. This is just one example of what our Lord could do through us...if we dare to believe that He will. There is no limit to a child of the Most High King. Just as He had no limits, He gives us none as well. Just as He spent and was spent, so are we to spend and be spent. Just as He gave all in order to bring life, so are we to give all, even our life's blood, to see HIS will done on this earth, even as it is in Heaven. Every miracle Jesus performed...healing the sick, raising the dead, casting out demons, power over the elements such as stilling storms and turning water to wine...these He said we could do, also, and even greater things, to the glory of God.

Most folks will read this and think, "He takes it too far," but you know what? Some of you won't. You'll begin to think with the mind of Christ, which knows all things and always reveals the heart of the Father, and will then rise above your circumstances to defeat the enemy in your life and the lives of those around you. One thing is certain: no one can take the Scriptures and refute what I have written. They can only refute it with their unbelief.

This faith of the Lamb of God Who shed His Blood for the world is a faith of great power, a power which has not been tapped since our Lord Jesus walked this earth. That's changing, though, in this latter rain, as a lot of things are changing. Believe the Word, if not me, that things are going to get a lot tougher, and soon, and if you aren't thoroughly grounded in the Lord's Presence, it's going to draw you into it and take you down, child of God or not. If we shun the offer of an umbrella when it's about to rain, we'll get wet...and it won't be the fault of the One Who offered the umbrella. It will be our own fault. The warning is given.

We need to wake up and now, beloved of God. We've slept too long, put things off too long and listened to the lies of men too long. We're in an arena and in the battle of our lives and for the lives of our loved ones. Ignorance will get us killed. Wisdom and vision will set us free. "Behold, I lay before you both blessings and curses, life and death. Therefore...choose life."

You have my heart.
Strength and Honor,
Hail the Lamb!
Love,
Jim Grayson
AFresheningWind@aol.com

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