STEP INTO MY REST

All of the Father’s works have been finished since the foundation of the world.  “And God rested on the seventh day from ALL His works.”   He sat down in Heaven and rested. My work was finished at the cross and then I sat down at His right hand.  I have given to you My Holy Spirit to help you enter into the finished work of God and into the rest of God.  You enter Our rest through obedience to the Word of God.  You step into obedience through faith, becoming a partaker WITH God in the work OF God.

You have been given a high calling in Christ Jesus.  Walk worthy of that high calling.  Step into it by faith.  Let faith arise and step into the honor you have been given as a child of the Most High God.  Step into obedience to My Word through faith in the One who is sufficient for you.  It is time to lay hold of all that Christ has laid hold of for you.  Forget those things which are behind you and reach forward to those things which are ahead.  Press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  The way has already been finished...enter into the rest of Our work for you.

Hebrews 4:1-13; John 19:30; Ephesians 4:1; Philippians 3:12

FAMILY FIRST

From the very beginning, I have designed that the order of all things begins with family first. In this season I AM bringing redemption, reconciliation, and restoration to individual households, individual families and from there to My Household, My Family and beyond.

Healthy individuals in strong, united, loving families make for a healthy, strong, united, and loving community, society, nation, or kingdom.  This is why the enemy has targeted individuals and the family unit for destruction.  The education system, the government, and even the mainstream church have all partnered with him in separating family units and making place for the weakening of Divine Design.

I AM the One who sets people in families.  I AM the One Who has adopted you into My family and made you members of the household of God.  I have called you according to your families so that in you all of the families of the earth may be blessed.  It is time to get your families in order.  It is time to begin with your own household.  It is time to bring health, strength, unity, and love back into your homes, thwarting the divisive plans of the enemy, bearing witness and giving testimony to the power of the Kingdom in your own lives FIRST and THEN into your own neighborhoods, communities, and beyond.

Look to your own households first and then also to the interests of others.  Put feet to your faith with those whom you say that you love. 

I have come to seek and save that which was lost.  I have released a redemptive grace for restoring all things that concern you.  All government begins with self-government.  Bringing your own household under the rule and authority of My Kingdom will make the way for you to come into wholeness and enter into the place of greater authority and power in Me.

Genesis 12:3; Ephesians 2:19; Luke 19:10; 1 Timothy 3:1-13

FAITH OR PRESUMPTION?

I AM removing presumption from my church so that true faith can flourish.  Much of what you have called “faith” is actually “presumption”.

Presumption acts on a faulty premise that the absence of resistance is agreement.  It takes unwarrantable and inappropriate boldness with My authority in matters that do not bear relevance to My purposes in the situation at hand.  Presumption can be a sin of commission (willfully rebelling against My revealed word) or of omission (not humbling yourselves to seek Me on the matter before acting).  Both are rooted in the pride of taking something upon oneself without right or permission.  Many are led by the dictates of their own hearts without understanding their secret faults.  Past experiences can bolster presumptuous acts of boldness falsely called acts of “faith”.  Moses at one time was told to strike the rock and water came forth. In a similar situation he was told to SPEAK to the rock, but presumed to do it the way that he had known in the past. Presumption mishandles My Word by assuming as true something that has not been proven as true for that particular matter at hand by the One Who is Truth.  Presumption is seed that is born of the flesh, empowered by the flesh, and produces fruit of the flesh leading to death.

Faith is seed that is born of the Spirit, empowered by the Spirit, and produces fruit of the Spirit leading to life. It is always initiated by Me, directed towards Me, and submitted to My revealed will and purpose in any particular situation.  It takes its purpose from Me, is positioned under My authority as Lord, and empowered by My Spirit of Grace in every situation.  Faith requires a continual seeking of Me, the One Who is the LIVING Word.  It is in seeking Me by faith that you will find the Way, Truth, and Life of a matter.  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” 

Psalm 19:12-14; Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:11; Luke 11:9 

Is Your Seed Still In The Barn?

The principles of sowing and reaping are true in the natural realm and in the spiritual realm.  I AM the One who gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater.  I have given to you lavishly.  And yet, isn’t there still seed in the barn?

He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly and he who sows lavishly will reap lavishly.

The cold, harshness of winter is over.  Spring is coming and it is time to bring all of your seed out of the barn and sow lavishly.  I give many different kinds of seed...seeds of faith, seeds of love...seeds of blessing and provision.  However, you first have to sow the seed into the ground before you will reap a harvest and have bread to eat.  With the same measure that you give it will be given back to you.  Give a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing then you shall receive a full measure in return.

I love you lavishly, having withheld nothing from you.  Love lavishly out of the seed of My love...with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind.  Sow lavishly and reap the fullness of the abundance that I have for you.

2 Corinthians 9:6-8; Haggai 2:19; Isaiah 55:10; Matthew 22:37    

The Gift of Delayed Gratification

God intends good where the enemy has intended evil.  Where the enemy has brought disappointment through delayed gratification, God intends to bring the strength of discipline through that same delayed gratification.

I AM raising up My people into a great and powerful army for My name’s sake and the sake of My Kingdom.  I AM breathing the life of My Holy Spirit on those who are dry, who have lost hope, and who have felt disconnected.  You have been through Boot Camp where each man has had to yield to the rigorous training and preparation of himself through various trials.  These have helped to ready you for the battles that are ahead, battles that will be fought with your brothers by your side.  This “Band Of Brothers” is My glorious army that is taking back ground that has been lost to enemy forces.  Ground that has become hard, barren, or thorny under the hand of the enemy will once again become fertile and fruitful.  

This great army is My instrument of redemption in the earth, extending the eternal effects of the cross of Christ into the temporal realm through the same disciplines of love and sacrifice that Jesus displayed.  These merciful acts of love and sacrifice are the seeds that bear the lasting fruit of righteousness, peace, and joy in My Kingdom rule.  As you do this, trusting Me with the rest, the soil of faith is prepared, making a place for love and sacrifice to bring forth an abundant harvest; taking back the hard, barren, thorny ground of the enemy’s sowing and making it fruitful for My Kingdom.   Allow the strength of My discipline to uproot any weeds of bitterness and disappointment.

This is your “Call of Duty” to arise to the strength and discipline of a higher service.  Activate your faith for the rank and file of a Kingdom soldier.  Cultivate the patience of the diligent farmer.  Fix your gaze, as a well disciplined athlete, on a greater reward than your temporary comfort.  Set yourselves to seek first the Kingdom of God and My righteousness and I will take care of those things that have concerned you.  

Ezekiel 37:10; Luke 8:11-15; Romans 14:17; 2 Timothy 2:4-6

The Age Of Maturity

This is a Bar Mitzvah year for My modern day church.  It is a “coming of age” season when the sons of God will be revealed.  It is also a season when the sons of God will be required to begin to take responsibility for their words, attitudes, actions, behaviors, and choices.

I, as your Heavenly Father, have covered your weaknesses in the past as a parent covers and protects a very young child.  I have used this covering time as a time of training you to know how to refuse the evil and to choose the good.  Now is the time of maturity when you are required to own your weaknesses, bringing them to Me in faith and believing that I AM able to work in you both to will and to do what is good and right.

Through Christ, I AM with you in your weakness to help you work out your own salvation...even when it is with fear and trembling.  My grace is sufficient for you and My strength is made perfect in weakness.  Do not rely on human wisdom, but rather on the power of My Holy Spirit within you.  You will bear witness of the Kingdom and the power of God for salvation.  Your faith and obedience bring Me great pleasure.  Even when you don’t see or sense My protective covering, know that My presence is with you in power.  My pleasure smiles over you as mature sons of the Living God!

Romans 8:19; Isaiah 7:15; Philippians 2:12-13; 2 Corinthians 12:9

2013 A Baker's Dozen Year of Increased Measure

2013 is a year of the “baker’s dozen”, a year of the increased measure of what the heart has ordered.  For those whose hearts are turned toward Christ, it is a season of unprecedented boldness for increased fruit of righteousness and power of the Spirit.  For those whose hearts are turned from Christ, it is a season of unprecedented fruit of unrighteousness and power of sin.

There will be liberty and liberality for all; the releasing of the captives into the liberty of Christ.  This “liberty of Christ” is the freedom to be all that you choose to be.  For some, there will be the breaking off of the chains of the flesh and sin as they choose to embrace Christ not only as
“Savior”, but also as “Lord”.  For others, there will be the breaking off of the chains of pretense and religious hypocrisy as they choose to embrace the desires of the flesh and sin.  Those who are of the world will live in such as way as to openly resist the government, rule, and authority of My Kingdom in their hearts; while those who are Mine will live in such a way as to openly resist the government, rule, and authority of worldliness in their hearts.

There will continue to be an increase of My government and My peace to order and establish My Kingdom with righteous judgment and justice.  My zeal is being stirred up and increased in the earth to make a clear distinction between righteousness and unrighteousness, between good and evil.  I AM raising up an army of those whose senses have been trained to refuse the evil and to choose the good.

It is for freedom that Christ came to make you free.  You have been called to liberty and liberality; only do not use your liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another with liberality.

Jeremiah 29:11-14; Isaiah 7:15, 9:7, 61:1-7; Galatians 5:1