Five-Fold Today - Let God Be God - In His Image - Trust - It's Enough! - New Levels, The Unfamiliar Place - Honoring the Truth-teller, part 3 - Speak My Word and Don't Hold Back

May 28, 2001

Let God Be God

Mike Forest

There is a fresh wind of the Spirit blowing in many churches today. We are no longer satisfied with church as usual. We are no longer content just to go through a service that is programmed and orchestrated by man. Yes, it is the very best that man can do. The best choirs, the best sermons, everything nice and comfortable and organized, designed especially not to offend, and to attract man. Yet, the best that man can do is so very insignificant when compared to what God is doing in those places where men have come to the end of themselves and realized that without Him we can do nothing. Yes, the best show that man can put on cannot save a soul, it cannot deliver a single person from the bondage of sin, it cannot heal a single person.

What we need in our churches is not more of what man can do, (we have seen what man can do), but what God can do. Our center and emphasis has got to change from being man centered to being God centered. Chruch is not a place to come only to get, but it is a place that we come to give something to God (mainly ourselves). It is the presence of God that men are hungering and thirsting for. When we seek to touch God with our praise and worship and to satisfy His heart, then our needs will be met also. God desires to meet all of man's needs. He even wants to satisfy the desires of our hearts, but God doesn't like to be used. How many of us go to Him when we have a need, but yet we do not spend quality time with Him in intimate communion and fellowship? I have found that the biblical principle of seeking first the kingdom of God and having all of my needs met a reality in my life. There is nothing that satisfies like the presence of God. The problems of life grow increasingly dim in the light of God's presence and glory. The real secret to getting our needs met is to get our eyes off of ourselves and onto Him, who is our very life, the source of all things, our all in all.

God is wanting to manifest Himself to His people. Only those that are hungering and thirsting after Him will be filled. God takes the initiative and draws us to Himself, so even those that are complacent and indifferent to the things of God are being drawn by the Lord to open up their hearts and let the Son shine in. We can no longer be satisfied with the status quo. Are we desperate enough that we will put it all on the altar in order to have more of Him? We have got to ask God to change us. Only those that seek after God with all of thier hearts will find Him.

In His Love,
Mike
MForest585@aol.com

In His Image

Luz Cintrón

I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my Fears…. Psalm 34:4

Some time ago I had a vision-teaching about us mankind, from the Father our maker. The Lord took me to the time when He created man in His own image. See, it has always been kind of mysterious to me what is the meaning of that phrase “in His image”. But we were created in His image and we carry it.. There are many things I don’t exactly understand but this one He started to unfold. I still do not understand it all, but I started to see.

I saw how man was in His heart. He showed me the Glory of God in man and the glory of man in Him. At the moment of creation, He fashion a living tabernacle for Himself in man. He showed me a body that look transparent, as seen with the eyes of the Spirit. It reminded me of those plastic figures used in the science class to teach about the internal organs in the body. But this one did not showed any organs, instead all that could be seen was an opalescent fluid which filled it and it had movement showing all colors of the opal as it would move inside of man. We were fashioned by God to carry His glory on earth into the physical realm. A way was made between the physical and spiritual in which both realities would meet in the natural and the clash between the two realities was not there. Instead there was a perfect flow of the two realities and was no clashing even though they were not one, for they were different but not opposed. The Lord spoke to my heart and told me He was showing Himself to me in man and He was the opalescent presence inside the body. And it was glorious in beauty beyond words.

As an artisan of crystal fashions from sand an expensive crystal goblet He fashioned man from the dust of the earth. I saw how fragile crystal is and when pulled by the edge of the cup, if hold rightly it would sound musical. We are like that in His hands and He makes music out of all the pulls of life in us, because He holds us in the right position in His hands, always, never letting go, whether we know it or not. Our relationship with Him was not based in knowledge but on trust. We were fashioned as creatures of trust, His creatures of trust.

We were not created as creatures of knowledge, it came to us by our choice through deception. Like the birds were made to fly not knowing nothing about aerodynamics man was fashion to carry the glory of God. I saw such a fragile creature, carrying the only power there is in the whole universe. For there is no power that can confront God’s and overcome Him, then all others are void, null and the only prevailing power there is, is in God. Man creature as fragile as crystal was like a show case for God. A creature of trust and innocence was fashion to carry the All Knowing, but in ourselves there was not even the awareness of knowledge and what it was. That simplicity was not a weakness but a point of strength against pride, for pride was unknown and not found with the nature of that creature. Then He opened my eyes and I saw that simplicity that could be seen now as a weakness, was His glory in man. Because it displays the order of things as they really are in the true reality of God.

Any day we would strive to be strong and hide our weakness, but at the moment of creation, man was fashioned fragile. Without knowledge but able to learn, for that would come through our fellowship with Him. Amazingly shielded from pride because he was not to interfere with the glory pertaining to God, even though he would be His living arc of testimony. A creature without strength, for the elephants were made stronger than man, would carry the power which created the universe just by His word. And that was the glory of man in God and the glory of God in man, and they were one even though different. In our weaknesses He is shown strong in His strength.

We were created for fellowship with Him and when exiled from that place of communion, chaos was the result in the inwards parts of men. We live longing for things we are not aware of, that is why there is the believe of God in each and every culture on this earth. When man try to be sophisticated, they may become agnostic and if “strong” and intellectual even an atheist, but the void within the creature remains in spite of all the things we may obtain. When the purpose for which we were fashioned does not comes through a void settles in the heart of man, in his inward parts because the glory of God in him is missing the glory of man in God is not manifested either, and all that remains there is a void. Imagine a bird traumatized, trying to resolve the laws of physics before taking off in its first flight. Nonsense? But I tell you when sin entered this world, the fear of death came down upon all creation. Isn’t that what we do in our pursuit of knowledge, that is according to our natural minds, trying to explain the spiritual realm? The kingdom of God will be manifested once again through His children in the power of His Spirit, in His presence dwelling in us, it will be unveiled, revealed and knowledge is not the chosen tool. If not, why is it that we cant explain why some are healed and some are not and all the mysteries of God. But let me also tell you, it is His pleasure to reveal His secrets and share them with His children, that is within the purpose for which we were created, called and destined and we shall received them and even understand them through trust.

Vanity of vanities and all is vanity, man can not reach God and his destiny in Him by knowledge in the same way a bird can not go deep by swimming like a whale in the depths of the ocean, for it is a creature of land and its glory is to fly high deep into the sky even though they ignore all there is about how to fly and the law of gravity etc, etc. That is the glory of God in the birds He made to fly .

We are called to love Him with all our hearts and minds, for we were given a mind and that mind is called to serve God too, but since the great deception in the garden, when we chose to believe the lie against God, that He didn’t want us to be like Him and was withholding the best from us, that lost of trusting innocence have been replaced with the poison of suspicion. We cling to knowledge as a panacea to all our ailments. We seek to know as if by knowing we could balance what is broken within. But our knowledge is a deception. It was based on a lie and denial have sprout from it to the point it makes us unable to recognized the truth anymore. Knowledge of man is blind and crippled.

Man was given a mind able to learn, to receive knowledge from his fellowship with God. That is why Jesus said, “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”. And, what is that truth? we may ask. Do you know why we ask? We ask because we are blind to both, the truth and our need of freedom. We are born dead but we can not see it. The death of a body is only the last stage, and one that is not even decisive in man history with God, since we all know there will be a resurrection and those who have receive Him will live forever with Him.

Doesn’t the knowledge of the spiritual refutes the premises of the knowledge in the natural mind of man, driven only by his crippled physical senses? Know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Don’t we fear truth? If someone would tell us that all the truth about ourselves is to be revealed before all the people, wouldn’t that be received with a tug of fear within you?

When our Lord presented Himself as our truth, our way and our life, I bet you He had that in mind. We need to learn to love truth, because since we embraced deception in the garden, we are delivered into deception from birth to the grave. Jesus came to become our life, and our way and yes, our truth. We are called to love God with all of our hearts and all of our minds with all of our strength. We must love that truth that is in God, which is no other but Jesus, that when all that there is in us, is announced to be revealed before all men, we can say Maranatha, Lord Jesus! and find no tug of fear in us.

But man can not come to this point until Jesus have become His way in death to pride and self, breaking the way of deception off from within us and embracing Him our cross, as a daily way of life , a life most real, not this mirage of life we are born into. Our love of Jesus should become a cross where we die to the fear of death for only then we can be delivered into life. Our love for Jesus should become perfect trust until the eyes of our spirit are opened and our hearts prepared to learn, receive, and love truth. He is our Truth that delivers us…. He is our life and our way…

I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; The humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the Lord, and He heard Me, and delivered me from all my fears. They looked to Him and were radiant. And their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! Oh, fear the Lord, you His saints! There is no want to those who fear Him. The young lions lack and suffer hunger, But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Who is the man who desires life, and loves many days, that he may See good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears are open to their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears, And delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite Spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers him out of them all. He guards all his bones; Not one of them is broken. Evil shall slay the wicked, And those who hate the righteous shall be condemned. The Lord redeems the soul of His Servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned. Psalm 34

Your servant in His love;
Luz Cintrón
http://www.thepearlsofwisdom.net

Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come and His wife hath made herself ready ..Revelation 19:7

Trust

Jane Larsen

Trust me. Put your house in order. I have been telling you to clean and clear and put your house in order. I am the searcher of hearts and have brought to the surface that which must be discarded. I am the one who has searched in the painful places, who has unlocked the hidden places, who has touched the empty places, and I am gentle, I am loving, I am calling you to trust in me. I am exposing that which holds you down. That which slows you, that which distracts you. This is a time of cleansing, of deep cleansing, of breaking from the past and making way for today. I desire to fill the places I am exposing. I fill to overflowing. I fill with light, with joy, with good things.

See, the clouds are parting and even now the sun is starting to shine. Trust me. Trust the work I am doing in you. I am bringing forth new. New and wonderful. New. Delight in my working.

In His Name and to His Glory
Jane

jlarsen65@hotmail.com

It's Enough!

Maria Magruder-Taylor

...And he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough! Now, Lord take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!’ 1 Kings 19:4

Elijah was at the end of his rope here. He had just finished doing the Lords work or “ministry”, he took out the prophets of Baal, and even after doing the Lords work the religious still wanted to KILL him. That’s when you find Elijah shouting, “It’s enough! Take my life Lord!”

Have any of you ever felt that way? You’ve been doing everything God has commanded you, yet religion still pursues you as Jezebel pursued Elijah. You come to that place where you are just so tired and you feel defeated. Elijah couldn’t even take care of himself at this point. He had to have an angel touch him and say, “Arise and eat”, and there he found food. For he couldn’t even feed himself!

Many say Elijah went into the cave to hide, but he didn’t go in there to hide, but to DIE. He was truly through when he said, “It's enough, take my life, Lord!” Caves in the bible were only used for two things: to hide or for a burial site. Elijah had picked out his burial site and was laying down to die, it was to be his grave. He had lost sight of “who he was” and his calling in God, he had lost his vision. “For my people perish for lack of vision”

Again, the angel comes and says, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you”. That’s where many people are right now... the journey seems far too great to ever accomplish, so much so you would rather throw in the towel and give up, there seems to be no hope. I assure you, there is an angel for you, an angel that will bring you heavenly food for your spirit, that you can go on, that you can accomplish the journey that God has set before you!

Then God says to Elijah, while in the cave, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” and Elijah has this whole list of problems... which actually ends up sounding more like whining in verse 10. The funny thing is God never responds to Elijah’s whining…God’s response to the whining is “GO OUT!” God doesn’t even acknowledge Elijah’s whining.

Elijah goes out on the mountain per Gods command and then a great wind tore into the mountain, and a great earthquake and great fire... but God was in none of those! All those earthquakes and fires you have been experiencing, God isn’t in those, everything that has shaken you, everything that has burned you hasn’t been God, but He is in that still small voice, saying “Elijah, what are you doing here?” Again Elijah spouts off his lists of complaints and self pity, and God does not respond to the whining, but He responds with a simple “GO”!

For many of you have given up, come to that place of where you want to die, there seems to be no hope, and you have found yourself a nice little cave to die in. You have creid, “It’s enough!” You’ve been waiting for a “lightening bolt” to come down from heaven with an audible voice to prophesy to you. You have looked into the earthquakes, fires and strong winds in your life, yet God hasn’t been in those.

God is calling you, calling you in a STILL SMALL VOICE, out of that cave and He is telling His people to “GO”. He is sending you food that you know not of, for the journey is too great for you. Some of you have been in the cave so long you aren’t even sure you are still “called of the Lord”.

Again I assure you that your calling has not left, it is still there, for the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable. (Romans 11:29) The calling is still the same, and God’s word to you is true, no matter what has come against you.

The JOY of the Lord is your strength, and the WORD of God is your food. God will see you through! Listen for God’s still small voice that will guide you and deliver you

maria@lifelineoutreach.com
www.lifelineoutreach.com
www.alaskaalliance.org

New Levels, The Unfamiliar Place

Undrai Fizer

New Levels in the Father not only shows our diligence in ministry, it shows hidden "devils" as well. It shows the things we have not yet conquered and defeated. It shows our comfort in our present ministry and anointing. It shows that we were used to a certain flow and environment for ministry. Even if the environment was less than satisfying, it was something we were used to.

New Levels expose what we are still used to in life and ministry. It will expose our security to who we thought we were. That's what New Levels will do, create a realm of "past tense" in your life. We are still used to the past, which we still feel is the "present."

If we are going through a terrible process of getting things together and it seems like there is a barrage of problems and things falling apart, this could very well be a confirmation of us not being used to a new level in the kingdom. It does not always bring peace initially. We may know what we are called to be, but may not be used to the environment that our destiny is assigned to at the moment. It can be frightening.

New Levels expose the things we are still hooked to. It exposes where our ministry is presently. It exposes the fact that we are trying to get used to a change of mantles and new maturity. It shows that we are used to defeating "certain principalities," but now, we must get used to facing a different circumstance and outlook to life. We may not be ready for this, but it's the truth.

New Levels in God is a fulfillment of promise from the Lord. But, it also exposes our fear and apprehensions to change. It shows us that we really appreciated our lives the way it was. It shows us how quick we got settled to "being settled" in a 'tabernacle style" assignment.

Our diligence in God will promote us to a life that we may not be mentally ready for at the time. But that is the work of the Spirit, to prepare us for the unfamiliar and the unknown. We will remember times when things just flowed. And now, we look out among us and do not "recognize anything." We look back at past relationships and wonder what went wrong. Things felt so right. We were doing fine, we thought.

However, we kept progressing in the revelation and life of Christ. We grew in Spirit and in life. Our ministries changed and we changed as well. The "skins" got old and we went through a period of shedding. We were purged and provoked by the Hand of God. We grew some more in the Spirit. Now, we are here. In this unfamiliar place.

A place called a new level. Another floor in the building. Another place in the kingdom.

We will get it together in a little while. It will make sense in time...

It will.

Undrai & Bridget Fizer
Kingpriest@aol.com
www.exploringthevision.org

Honoring the Truth-teller, part 3

Roger W. Sapp

When Loyalty Overcomes Truthfulness

Loyalty and truthfulness are two covenant values that must be held in tension against one another. Loyalty binds us together. The truth sets us free. If one value is emphasized over the other, then serious problems develop and both values will become distorted. If loyalty is overemphasized, then only affirmation will be given and heard as feedback. If truth telling is practiced without love and without loyalty, it does not build but tears down. If truthfulness is considered a fundamental component of loyalty, then the organization will be built on integrity. If loyalty is considered a fundamental component of truthfulness, then the organization will have true unity. Often in an organization, whether it is the local church, a business, a denomination, or a fellowship of churches, loyalty becomes the overriding value and begins to overcome truthfulness. This is often revealed in private words, actions and attitudes rather than the official position of the organization. The leaders of an organization may say that they value truthfulness but reveal in their actions that this is not really so. There are several predictable results when this happens:

Truth-Tellers are Unappreciated.

Individuals who strongly value honesty and truthfulness are unappreciated, and often rejected as disloyal. Some people are particularly oriented to truthfulness and may be seen as not being team players by those who highly value loyalty. This may create a value conflict in the organization between the truth-tellers and those who highly prize loyalty. The loyalty value normally wins over truthfulness in these kinds of situations because those in authority will often value loyalty over truthfulness. When the loyalty value wins over truth, it often takes the form of a suppression of free expression, particularly dissent. This does not make the elements of truth in dissent go away; truth will surface again and again in different, even more destructive forms, until it is dealt with properly. This is precisely why political tyrants are unable to completely silence free expression and why they feel the need to silence it. The truth will find a way to express itself simply because it is the truth and God stands behind it.

Unintentional Training of Subordinates

Every time loyalty wins over truthfulness, loyal individuals are unintentionally trained by the leadership to hide the truth or to put an organizational spin on it. Truthful individuals are trained that they are not really welcome. Perceptions are created that success and promotion in the organization comes by telling the leadership what they want to hear rather than the truth. Loyal yes men can seem to become valued over those who have strong individual integrity and truthfulness. Maintenance of a False Righteousness

The loyalty-based local church or any organization can defend its righteousness at a high cost to the reputation of individuals. Often the organization fails to deal with its failures in a scriptural way. Instead the organization may blame its failures on the person it failed, even unfairly damaging the person’s reputation. The truth is sacrificed to the need of the organization to maintain a false appearance of not making any serious mistakes. Organizational problems are defended when they are brought to light by distorting the truth by putting an organizational spin on it. In contrast, the balancing value of truth persuades all Kingdom organizations to repent, confess their failures, fix their problems and seek forgiveness of the persons that they failed. When failures are handled in a godly way, grace, forgiveness and mercy flow into relationships and healing occurs. When the organization defends its failures at the cost of the reputation of individuals, then it becomes a revolving door type of organization.

Revolving Door Organizations

Weakness in the value of truthfulness produces a revolving door type of organization over a period of time. Individuals come into the organization, then after perceiving the truth, they try to adjust the organization or adjust to the organization. Often after becoming disillusioned by the reality, they leave the organization. Those who do stay long-term within the organization may also prize loyalty above truth. However, because problems are hidden and often neglected, they create hidden turmoil and strife for these people as well. Hidden disunity becomes a way of life for the loyal members of the organization. They tolerate each other for the sake of the organization. Only open conflict is considered disunity after a time. Key Leaders in Crisis

The revolving door organization becomes a house of cards over a period of time because of hidden problems and disunity. A key leader may have a profound dealing from the Spirit of Truth and wake up to the seriousness of the organization’s hidden problems. This can create a destructive crisis between leaders as a key leader begins to speak the truth in a loyalty-based organization. Truth must be highly valued or the integrity of an organization becomes weakened and cannot maintain its membership. Loyalty alone cannot keep an organization together. Truth will always be necessary for long-term success.

Reputation Saturation Points

The reputation of the organization will begin to suffer for failure to listen to the truth. Many people will come through the revolving door over a period of time. They will know the details of the problems of the organization and the organization’s capacity to hide or to put a spin on them. They may have become embittered by the organization sacrificing their reputations to maintain its own. The organizational growth stops and begins a long and steady decline because of reaching a reputation saturation point with many people speaking badly about the organization’s treatment of individuals and failure to deal with problems. The loyalty-based organization, however, will be blind to the real reasons for its decline. This is because it has few truth-tellers anymore. Its spiritual eyes have been dishonored and are now gone. It will offer alternative explanations and shift the blame once again.

Sincere Relationships in the Church

The concept of sincerity may be the best blend of the values of loyalty and truthfulness. A sincere person is a person who out of loyalty to God and others speaks the truth without mixture. The word sincere comes from the Latin word sincerus. It literally means without wax. This word comes from the time when the Romans were building great buildings using marble columns to support the weight of these monumental buildings. The builders would go to the marble cutters in the quarries and inspect the columns. The cutters would put wax in the cracks of columns to make them deceptively appear to be solid in order to sell them. The builders could only use the sincere columns to build with. The columns that were what they appeared to be, that were actually solid, without wax hiding cracks, were the only thing that would sustain the weight of the building. If a builder built a building using a column that lacked sincerity, the entire building could fall down. The parallels are evident. The Spirit of Truth needs sincere people to build the Church; people that value loyalty and truthfulness in harmony with each other.

*******************
The European Prophetic College.
EPC@swipnet.se

Speak My Word and Don't Hold Back

Stephen Hanson

Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. ISA 58:1

And he said to me, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, `This is what the Sovereign LORD says,' whether they listen or fail to listen." EZE 3:10, 11

"This is a word for those who would be challenged by my word."

"When I speak my word to many of you, I want that word to "become part of you." It is one thing to speak my word and to say what I've told you to say, but it is yet another thing for that word to sink into your heart. It is yet another thing for that word to mold you and shape you."

"I AM glad that many of you speak my word for Me. For many of you have not held back. You have gone where I have asked you to go. You have not mixed my word with other things. But what good is it if you speak my word but are not changed on the inside by it? How are you to become like Me? "

"The time is coming, and it is very near the door, when many of you may hold back what I have given you to say. But I would say, to not hold back. You must be tested; your character must be tested. Work together with those that you minister together with. Work with those apostles. Work with those other pastors and teachers. Work with those that I have placed in your midst. You are needed as part of the complete unit. I will tell you that the enemy has tried to stifle you though. You were deceived into thinking that you were to remain silent. How will my word get out if your tongue is stilled? The enemy knows the importance of this word, and he will do everything in his power to silence you."

"While it is true that I want to perfect many of you in your speaking and in your listening. It does not mean that I want you to STOP. Does a runner stop running so that he might run faster? Does an artist or a musician stop their endeavor so that the music or the painting would become better?"

"How many more times around the track do you have left before I return? I say that the finish line is not far off. With each lap around the track that is left a greater opposition will come to you so take courage and say what I've called you to say. Then my word will go out unto the ends of the earth. Then it will accomplish what I've called it to do."

"Speak my word and don't hold back."

Stephen Hanson

http://www.angelfire.com/in/HisTruth
inhistruthprophet@earthlink.net

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