Manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit

1Th 2:4 On the contrary, we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please men but God, who tests our hearts. 

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.  – Proverbs 17:3

The One who tests and approves is God, not man. We, all of us, will always be tested. But we are approved and released by God in his timing. 

Church leadership, therefore must facilitate the release of people according to what the Spirit says, not upon what man has concluded, not by religious legalistic standards. 

For the church to operate in power, it must first be operating in Kingdom revelation knowledge. By revelation, we proceed. By revelation we become as one. Without revelation, we rely on the minds of people. The result is a democracy, a multiple of good sounding arguments or ideas that get voted on by the high few. “What do you think?” “Well, what do you think?” “Sounds good, let’s vote on it.” Then we’ll move in what we have concluded… a democracy of fine-sounding arguments.

There is absolutely no reference to the Church being a democracy anywhere in the Bible. It is a place subject to The King of Kings, by way of the Holy Spirit! The Church is part of a Holy Monarchy. All of us subject to God Himself. 

Moving forward as the Church is by a right way only if those involved have honestly sought the revelation of the Spirit first. And the evidence of this right way is unity of thoughts! There is rarely a vote because everyone is thinking the same thing! Everyone’s on the same page. In reality, democracy is a compromise. It is the way of the world, and certainly better than a dictatorship. But the best way of government is a Kingdom. Here is the “Chain of Command”: The Father wills a thing, Jesus speaks the thing, and the Holy Spirit brings the thing by supernatural revelation. We get revelation knowledge in times of intimacy. We all start to think alike. No vote is required. 

Thus, only when the Lord says to test, do we test. When the Lord says to release, we release. Even if the one being released was saved yesterday! Such things are to be expected. 

God always works outside the boxes of our thinking. We should expect, even seek the lifestyle of radical supernatural Church life! The mind yoked to the mind of Christ in complete dependence far exceeds the independent thinking mind. Since the dependent mind of the Spirit led person is capable of healing the sick, casting out demons and raising the dead, does not such a mind exceed the mind of man that cannot!? 

2Co 10:4-5 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

Stop thinking and start drinking (drinking of the wine of the Holy Spirit that is!)! Then after a while, you will think great thoughts! Then your mind will be flooded with Kingdom thoughts that consist of revealed truth. You will think by revelation, thoughts you could never conclude. Such truths blow away whatever we conclude, however good sounding those conclusions might be.

Let me clarify that I am not at all talking about the elimination of human thought and conclusion! What I am saying is that we must first, in humility, die to our minds… thereafter use them! A mind fully yoked to the Mind of Christ is an amazing weapon!

Col 2:2-4 My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments (the mind of man…). 

I’m not interested in what man thinks. I want to know what man hears. It is in the hearing and subsequent seeing that the Kingdom of God is made known.

Ro 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. 

Lk 8:10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’

Oh how invaluable is revealed knowledge. It is more weighty than gold, more pricy that the finest diamonds!

For the church to move in the fullness of the call, it’s foundation, substance and sustenance must be established and maintained by revelation of what is true in the Kingdom of God brought down to earth as it is in Heaven. Revelation hearing followed by revelation seeing results in a church structure that, in turn results in a great harvest of souls. For without revelation, no one can be saved.

Regarding our primary call to win souls, outside of revelation knowledge we can’t convince anyone of the truth of God’s existence.

Revelation knowledge works in and then through us as to who to speak to, when to speak, and what to say. It works in the ones we speak to for them to gain the truth. However, we don’t know when someone will turn. We must therefore speak boldly the truth in any season, ready at all times to give our testimony of God’s love. Trusting that His Word does not fall on deaf ears.

Main thing is, we take no credit for success, nor any condemnation for failure. Because, He is the one who makes it happen, not us. 

This entire discussion finds its basis in one word… dependence!

By our dependence, we succeed. Through our dependence, He moves. From our dependence, a harvest can be reaped. How invaluable then is humility, a humility that causes us willingly to go lower and lower still. Only in this way will we succeed in anything we do for Father’s Kingdom. 

How is it then that we select people for any position or release within the structure of a church outside the revelation of who and when the Father has chosen? Why then should anything be done by the church that is outside of revelation knowledge? Let this no longer be.

When God says it once, it is set in stone and is unchangeable. When He says it twice, He really means it. But, seven times this appears in Revelation…

Rev 3:22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Oh my goodness! What does this say about the church that does not have ears to hear what the Spirit says? I can only say this, such a place can be nowhere else but in error. 

2Co 3:4-12 Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.

1Th 1:2-3 We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers.  We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith, love and hope result in good works, valuable labor and endurance to finish what God has started in us. In all this we understand by revelation knowledge that it has nothing to do with us, rather it is ability that has been given us by God. We are incapable in and of our own. HE HAS MADE US COMPETENT. Our competence in all these things comes from God. 

“We do not have faith because we understand. We have understanding because we have faith.”

Bill Johnson

In other words, what we know by faith has been given us. It has not been concluded or figured out of our own ability. Our understanding is by revelation that is born by faith!

All our good fruit is based upon 1) A faith that must first believe without seeing, then we see. 2) Love, even when not loved back, and… 3) Hope in the knowledge of the Kingdom of God that is to come. To come is defined as that which is to come in heaven and that which is to come on earth as it is in heaven.

Our hope does not have to defer until heaven. From the Lord’s Prayer: “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” Therefore the fullness of our hope must be in both that which is to come and that which He brings to us on earth here and now.

Our hope is both in our salvation home but also in God’s manifestation of the Kingdom of God in our midst. More so, I am convinced that the greater hope is for Kingdom power to come to us here today “on earth as it is in Heaven.” This yields perseverance and a supernatural ability to reap a great harvest.

The church has little seen that which could be on earth. It has become complacent in doing only that which is based in the knowledge of salvation and what we might gain in eternity. But God is reminding the church that the power of the Cross is as important as the result of the Cross. Let me say that again, the power of Cross of Christ is as important as the result of it! Namely, the manifestation of the Holy Spirit in and upon us in the here and now.

The result of His Cross is Heaven. But the power of his Cross is manifesting from Heaven to us to bring the Kingdom of God to earth as it is in heaven. We don’t have to wait for Heaven to get a bit of Heaven here and now. 

In fact we are commanded by Christ in John chapters 14-17 to be filled with this power before going out and doing anything.

The reason that the church fails so miserably in endurance is because of the lack of hope. Not hope in our heavenly home, but hope for power in the here and now. We must therefore hope not just in our Kingdom to come, but in our Kingdom that Father wants to bring on earth NOW!

Understanding salvation is well and good. But how few really understand that the fullness of Christ’s sacrifice was in the restoration of relationship between God and man in the here and now! In a word, intimacy! Man being restored to the Garden! How great is this hope that arises from our intimacy with God!

Hope therefore results in power, both for our own salvation to come and for reaping a harvest of souls before we go home. 

Our hope must include the harvest we reap! This hope depends on the power of the Cross.

Hope awaits the Spirit’s power. Power results in miracles. Miracles result in a testimony. The testimony results in higher faith. And as in 1 Thes 1:2-3 above, faith results in fruitfulness, the works that bring in the harvest today. 

Power positions us for success. Power sets us in alignment with God’s will. Power equips us for every good work. Miracles reinforce our hope and increase our faith. The result is great encouragement that feeds endurance. So hope for now leads to endurance now. Therefore our hope results in a constantly reenergizing state of alignment with the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven. 

These power manifestations feed all three of faith, hope and love. But where the harvest is concerned, the very reward for Christ’s sufferings, we must not rely on our own strength and limited abilities to endure. For such a way always leads to either failure over the long term or outright fruitlessness. 

The only way to long term success in which we will see thousands of souls saved in a day, is supernatural endurance. This only happens in His strength, by His power. This happens when the Kingdom comes upon us again and again. It’s a never ending hope…

2Co 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

Ac 3:19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…

Renewal… Revival, these are manifestations of infilling. We need them day by day. And like the manna that goes bad after a few days, we need it fresh, again and again. 

This is how we succeed in the here and now. This is how we reap… Not by what we can do, but by what He gives us in these times of refreshing! This is why the Holy Spirit is called the “Helper”.

Only in this radical supernatural way can we truly manifest the truth of Christ into a dying world. We were made to be naturally supernatural.

Which would you prefer to see? Would you prefer to see one soul saved in a month, after days or weeks of self effort? How discouraging is that! How long would one last doing that. Lest of coarse if in so doing one makes a lucrative earthly living… 

Or, do we HOPE for three thousand souls saved in a day? Do we HOPE for healings, deliverances and raisings from the dead? How greatly encouraging would that be! Would not this instill and increase greater faith and greater hope? This is what Christ moved in. This is what He died for! It’s what he meant when he said we would do even greater things than He. This is what the first church moved in. How should we model ourselves after the first church if we deny the same measure of the manifest Presence that they moved in? 

It’s these very things that the devil and the flesh fight against the most. We, therefore must be operating in the supernatural power of the Fathers love! Faith leads to love leads to hope!

In such a love, we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death, and laugh with joy! Even though we be greatly persecuted, we endure it… easily! Even when virulently hated, we love. Even when all the arguments are in, we have a faith that is unshaken. Our hope is made firm in the power and truth of revelation! And faith, love and hope regenerate and refresh!

In Heaven, there is no sickness, bondage or death. So, it stands to spiritual reason that when He brings a little bit of that heavenly atmosphere down here to earth, that sickness, bondage and death MUST flee! We cannot do that of our own power! Revelation knowledge, healing power, deliverance from evil and life from death; all these things happen when we hope for the Kingdom to come now. They happen when the Holy Spirit falls. They happen when we are dependent. They happen when we believe. They happen when we die to self. 

Effectiveness in the world only happens when we have spiritual faith, love and hope. But without the power of Christ’s Cross, it’s all for nothing.

Look at the next few sentences of 1 Th 1, verses 4-6a in context with vs 2-3 we have already considered:

“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers…”

You cannot have words without the power. No ministry can last that way. Lest the mind of man be yoked to the Holy Spirit, the mind is left open to the world and to the one who rules it. 

Now more than ever, we must be forever filled with the Holy Spirit, who manifests ever increasing faith, love and hope, so that we can manifest good works, supernatural effort and unlimited endurance. To be effective in tomorrow’s works, there is no other way!

Rom 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Is 7:9b “If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.”

Faith… everything unseen depends on it. Even more, there is no Grace without it. 

It is impossible to define the unseen sufficiently through that which is seen. Science, though defined by God is, of itself alone, woefully insufficient to define Him … 

Without dependent, humility based faith, it is impossible to rightly discern the eternity of the unseen; it is impossible to see or understand God. 

The lack of this understanding is the basis behind every false religion in our world. 

How great are the unknown wonders of God, accessed only through a hearts condition postured in selfless faith! 

All Things By Faith

Ga 3:1-6 You foolish Galatians! (most of today’s church) Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard? Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  

The word is clear that we see nothing but by faith. God’s covenant blessings are already secure, but we need faith to activate them when God’s timing is made known. No person or any church will see it that does not have faith for it! If we have to have proof, we will never see it.

In the Genesis 15 covenant made between Abraham and God, Abraham prepared a ritual. Anytime we (man) make a covenant, we can’t fulfill it. Then God put Abraham to sleep. God makes covenant by Himself. God included Abraham in it. Abraham was not a promisor in it, it was God… a promise made between God and Himself. Abraham simply stepped into it. Like Christ, we step into the covenant God made on our behalf by faith. 

Faith is critical! Because the covenant we cannot enact is already made for us. We step into this covenant simply by faith.

No faith – no learning, no faith – no revelation, no understanding, no growth… Rest, wait, believe and then we will move into it.

We have so much that is untapped because we choose not to believe. God has given so much. And so, like a lawyer, we must take what the word of God says and declare it against the enemy who accuses us in order to silence our faith!

Intellectualizing Faith

One cannot intellectualize faith. God never shows up when people attempt to define Him. Or in the case of an intellectual study, He doesn’t show Himself powerful to prove himself.

When Jesus was constantly harassed by the church leaders of His day, the Pharisees, he was being judged for doing miracles in ways they did not understand or agree with. He was doing these miracles right in front of their natural eyes, yet they did not believe. The Pharisees were thinking… Jesus was loving. The only people able to see Him for who he was were those who had hearts to believe by faith. 

Non-belief in “a thing” generates all manner of good sounding arguments against “the thing”. This is true in all areas requiring faith. This was the problem with the Pharisees, it remains the problem with all who do not live by faith, likewise to all who must figure God out. And satan exploits this reality to the max! On any given thing, there is only one God defined truth. It takes faith based revelation given understanding to see it. Wherever faith lacks, there exist many good sounding arguments, all of which are leavened with error. 

Faith overcomes the mind. Faith exceeds the mind. Faith should manage the mind. Faith believes without quantitative proof. No attempt to prove God through intelligence has ever succeeded. 

I have seen cancers healed, hearts replaced, limbs grown back and the dead raised, literally. My own pastor was healed from a deadly illness and himself twice raised from the dead by the prayers of the desperate and hungryfaithful in the power of Jesus name. And so I know faith based prayer works. But the thinkers who think independently of the Holy Spirit will never see it. Like the Pharisees who witnessed Jesus healings and who yet denied him, of what value is proof to those who will not believe anyway? 

Experience follows faith. Or, at least, the experience is understood by a people who have a heart to have a faith. Only the faithful see it. Therefore, trying to figure it out is a waste of time lest in the figuring out, the Holy Spirit has brought revelation to it!

Faith is required first in all things spiritual; only in this way will anyone see the miraculous. 

Faith Given

Heb 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Faith activates the Kingdom of God on earth. Faith activates miracles. They will not be seen or understood without it. 

Acts 14:9-10 He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, “Stand up on your feet!” At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

We know that faith is absolutely mandatory in order to believe in God. Because God has not manifest himself clearly in the ordinary world in an obvious way, if one believes in God, it must be from a position of faith. Thus, faith is mandatory to believe in God. This is the first step that leads to any and all things of the Lord and His Kingdom. All things of the Kingdom of God start and finish through faith. Faith is the very doorway to all things God.

Faith is something one expresses, not thinks. The expression of faith comes first from the choice to have faith, and then the gift of faith from the Holy Spirit. 

Rom 12:3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

Now wait a minute… Am I not the one who is supposed to well up faith in my soul? Yes, initially. You are required to choose faith in any issue. Once God sees that faith, He comes to you and gives you a gift of faith. You have to take the first step and choose faith. But your faith is tiny in comparison to the faith you will need to succeed in Kingdom issues in this world. God comes to those with faith as small as a mustard seed and gives them the gift of faith. 

1 Cor 12:7-9 Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit…

So faith starts with a choice, and that choice results in a faith “as small as a mustard seed”.  That is as big an amount of faith that we are humanly able to muster. But then comes the Holy Spirit who gives faith as a gift. It is that faith that moves mountains…

Matt 17:20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

The above scripture denotes the progression of faith. I start with my “small as a mustard seed faith”, Jesus comes in the Spirit and gives me the 1 Corinthians 12 gift of faith that I could never have of my own. I then speak to the mountain in my faith and God moves the mountain by our faith. 

I can testify to an event of instantaneous and radical increase of faith that I personally experienced. In a week long conference with a group of Argentinian revival leaders back in 1997, the Holy Spirit came in such power as to see us all on the floor time and again in the Spirit. It was a dear experience in my memory. When we left, while in the car going home, I told my wife, “You know, I clearly feel a huge increase in faith!”  And this was clearly proven so. I left that conference with what felt like a five fold increase in faith! I believed that I not only knew that I was able, but had a new found desired to go out and do Kingdom exploits on behalf of my Jesus! I knew that I now had something I never had before. And it was a gift I could never muster on my own. I can say, to this day, I have never been the same. 

Faith starts with my choice. He then comes with volumes more when He sees my heart of basic faith. The result is the manifestation of God’s Kingdom on earth, through my heart that was found by Him willing and then, by Grace, made able by Him to do what I previously could not do of my own accord.

Faith is a shield that protects us from falling into a worldly mindset. The stronger one’s faith, the greater is the ability to operate with Kingdom ability in this world. 

Faith is the essence required for God’s Presence. It is the key by which we operate in the power moves of God. Like anything of God, all things require faith first. If faith leads to salvation, then faith also leads to the Presence of the Holy Spirit and the miracles that ensue. 

1 Pet 1:5 ..who through faith are shielded by God’s power…

It is a requirement therefore that we live by faith. If we are to ever succeed in our earthly Kingdom call, faith is a must. This faith leads to a power that both protects and enables. 

1Pet 1:6-7 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Our faith is tested by fire, by every kind of trial. These tests result in an ability to operate in such power as to be able to walk right down the valley of the shadow of death laughing and dancing in the face of every evil thing. Faith results in salvation. It then results in revelation and intimacy. It is brought into fullness when we exhibit our faith into a dying world with supernatural power. All these things testify Christ to an unbelieving word. How can I ever reap a harvest if I am not performing Kingdom acts of supernatural power to an unbelieving world? By faith! From just speaking of Christ to raising the dead, all these things require faith to activate them. 

The measure that we are made able to live a dual citizenship, with one foot on earth and the other foot in the Kingdom while on earth, is directly proportionate to ones level of faith. 

A person with great faith is a deadly dangerous agent to contend with in the eyes of satan. Faith results in a particular authority that when exercised in it’s fullest, will see the enemy flee in seven directions!

Jesus reveals himself by the Holy Spirit. We then, even having not seen, must make a choice to believe and have faith. Faith, then, is the very key to spiritual maturity. As it is in the world, so it is in Kingdom business that the highest callings are given to the wise. But only in the Kingdom of God is wisdom given in times of faith! Kingdom wisdom is given, not concluded… There is no comparison of the wisdom of the world to the wisdom of the Kingdom. 

Though still this principle holds true. Who would give an infant a task of leadership? 

Heb 5:12-6:1 In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God…

Spiritual maturity is directly linked to faith. What faith we gain as a gift from God is entirely dependant on the faith we choose to have before He gives increased faith as a gift. God then chooses what measure of devine faith to give us as He chooses for each of us. 

If where the Holy Spirit is there is freedom, then where there is faith there is freedom. This is because all things of the Holy Spirit require faith first. Faith therefore is prerequisite to freedom, as God defines freedom.

Hindrances to faith are pride, fear, sin issues, and past wounds. Many people are unable to see or hear because of issues blocking their ability to do so. Faith therefore requires that we come to the end of ourselves. The result of this self-death is the choice to become dependent upon God in all things. Faith wells up from this revelation of and subsequent agreement with the concept of dependency. Independence results in spiritual death. Independence results in spiritual immaturity. Therefore, the lower we go, the higher can be our faith, and thus our success as a Christian called to the task!

God accepts that people vary in faith. But faith, we must choose. We are simply left with the choice. How deep do we want to go? How much of the Kingdom of God do we desire to have manifest through us? God is ever merciful and loving to us, His children. He is pleased that we have faith! Nothing pleases Him more! How much more pleased is He when we have a big faith?

Faith is both prerequisite to and a product of Grace. Grace is the difference between His perfection and our broken state. Grace and mercy are directly linked. But grace is not mercy! Grace is the power of God that brings mercy to pass. For so it is that only in the power of the Holy Spirit can we, the imperfect, move towards perfection. We cannot even come close to perfection as God defines perfection in our own strength! And so Grace (power) given through faith leads us into a very great mercy by which God allows the imperfect to move towards perfection in an unmerited way! All of this happens by faith! Since no man or woman is perfect, and because of the completed work of Jesus cross, there is Grace. 

And so, where faith is concerned, people vary in faith levels. Though this is not perfectly desired, it is accepted by Father God because of the gift of Grace that was established through the completed work of the cross. The result is that we are each used according to our faith. 

No person should be judged for lack of faith, just encouraged to go deeper through the word expressed and, by the Spirit, the word revealed. 

Rom 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

And so all faith starts by hearing. May it be that we all have ears to hear so that we can enter into spiritual maturity and effectiveness in the reaping of this great End Time harvest of souls!

Faith Required for the Power

1 Pet 1:5 …who (the Saints) through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

This scripture makes it clear that faith is required for the power moves of God to be gained in one’s life. It is through faith that the shield of God’s power comes upon us. 

Now look at the same scripture in context with the word around it:

1 Pet 1:3-9 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade– kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvationthat is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith— of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in himand are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

The main purpose of faith is that we might go through life secure in the knowledge of our inheritance of eternity, by this living hope we have within us called faith. But faith also establishes and maintains the power to shield us from the wares of this world, the power to be revealed to the truths of the Kingdom of God, and the power to bring others into this glory as well through miracles, signs and wonders. Belief that leads to salvation and joy that equips us in this world to endure the trials that test our faith! It is all encompassed in this faith. In faith is the hope of our salvation, and the equipping to maintain it and express it!

But again, faith is required first to gain anything of the Kingdom of God, not the least of which is the power given by the Holy Spirit. 

The power of God is absolutely required if I am ever to gain anythingh of the Kingdom of God here on earth. Without His power, I am but operating by way of the mind and the flesh of man, a dead and lifeless religious way! I must understand that it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that I can ever rightly connect with the Kingdom of God and then gain the things He wants me to have and to use to reap this great harvest. In so doing I will be made able, not of my own flesh, but of His Spirit to speak the very words of God by the convincing convicting power of God. And here is the end of it…

1 Pet 4:11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever.

I don’t want to do a thing without His heavenly provision of power. But I know that I cannot do any of these things without the prerequisite faith which hungers for more of Him in all that I do! Therefore I will have faith in these things and believe that they are real and really important for me and my call in Him. Faith is oh so much more than just gaining heaven. Faith is my measure of release in all things here on earth that reap a harvest for Him before I get to Heaven. How sad that the lack of faith prevents the harvest from being reaped, but it does.

Let faith well up then for all the things Christ did and spoke of, all the miracles, the healing of the sick, the casting out of demons, and the raising of the dead! Let faith well up for all the things that Jesus did and more. Let faith believe that Jesus really meant what He said when He said these words:

John 14:12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Here are some other relevant scriptures regarding faith:

Heb 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…

Faith starts with me. It is then perfected by Him. 

Acts 15:9 He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.

Rom 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

Rom , since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…

Gal 3:1-5 You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed ascrucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?

So now the question remains, what will you choose to have faith in

This is a season of extreme faith resulting in extreme Grace resulting in ancient walls being torn down, nationwide. Christian identity is THE FIRST key that will bring faith to its fullest measure, which will in turn bring Grace to its fullest measure, which will in turn be the power that destroys those demonic walls. 

History

There are three primary geographic entry points into the United States from which satan established key strongholds to prevent America from attaining to its fullest glory. They are New England, the Gulf Coast and the Pacific Northwest. 

Founding Fathers entered in from the New England area bringing old religion from Europe but with a new vision for Spirit filled liberty. However, they brought with them a form of rejection, having been rejected from the places from which they came. The primary strongholds in New England are two fold; religious spirits of control and an extreme form of rejection leading to ungodly self defense. It’s a hard cold place where religion, anger and a certain pride that forms out of rejection are in control. It’s also a place of great Revival. What was in the Great Awakening will come again in New England and which will be the manifestation that brings down those old walls nationwide.

On the Gulf Coast from Pensacola across to Houston resides the mocking spirits of control and witchcraft, the seat of which is in Louisiana. These founders who came up from Central and South America brought with them darkness and control through witchcraft that has resided in the South for generations. Witchcraft has permeated into the United States from this region and which can only be silenced by the Power of the Holy Spirit and by angelic warring hosts. Prayer, fasting and Revival Glory will open these doors.

The Pacific Northwest

Perhaps the earliest of all forefathers into the Continental United States entered via the pathway from Asia. From Asia, through Russia, across Alaska, down through Canada and into the Pacific Northwest. The First People’s of America. The American Indians find their founding routes from Asia. They brought with them a particular “always seeking of spiritual truth” mentality which permeated and remains in ancient Asia. They carried with them a particular religious liberty to seek and live out what they chose to believe. But with that sense of religious liberty came many forms of spirituality that was ungodly. In the Pacific Northwest there has always been a liberty of spiritual seeking. Revival is easy in the Pacific Northwest because people are willing, but don’t necessarily know why. However, that has become an open door to religious error in many varying forms. The controlling spirits in this region are false religion, FALSE IDENTITY and forms of witchcraft that tie closely to power seekers who find the wrong power and who call that demonic power “light.” Washington is full of this.

Revival has been easy to manifest in the Pacific Northwest. But because of the flesh of the mind, has quickly shifted to error or outright died as the mind of man quickly overcame the truth of the Holy Spirit. 

There is but One Way by which these controlling spirits in the Pacific Northwest shall fall! Truth manifested upon God’s believers! REVELATION truth is the FIRST key!

Here comes the Revival of Revelation Word truth! The Revival of ChrIstian IDENTITY, of who WE ACTUALLY ARE in Christ’s eyes. Of what FAITH IS and of what GRACE IS. Most of Christianity have all these key truths in severe error! But, this Holy Spirit manifestation of truth will tear down these old religious strongholds in the Pacific Northwest. 

The Truth

Here’s the Truth in necessary order.

1. First premise: Whatever we believe, we empower. Whatever we DIS-believe, we empower. With this in mind: 
2. We who believe, ARE a New Man Creation. We are not BEING MADE, we already ARE. Sin no longer has a stronghold in us IF ONLY WE BELIEVE IT. This truth alone changes EVERYTHING!
3. This is why FAITH IS CRITICAL. FAITH is not real unless we first know who we are! Thereafter, we LIVE by faith. We die without faith. Faith is required for ALL THINGS in our Kingdom earth walk. Faith is THE necessary doorway to Grace. 
4. GRACE is NOT mercy. GRACE IS POWER! (Though there is an element of mercy in Grace because it is given undeservedly.) Grace is completely dependent upon FAITH. Grace AWAITS AND REQUIRES FAITH. No FAITH? No GRACE! No POWER! And, if we are in error about our identity, all these things are rendered powerless!

So here it comes to the Pacific Northwest, REVELATION TRUTH that results in overwhelming POWER! The Revival of IDENTITY… resulting in the manifestation of radical levels of FAITH, resulting in the outpouring of AMAZING POWER FILLED GRACE. THAT is what will RIP down these ancient walls of American religious error. 

REVIVAL: First IDENTITY revealed, second FAITH believed, third GRACE POWER manifested, fourth EFFECTIVENESS, the Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven : THE RESULT OF REVIVAL, EFFECTIVENESS.

In Addition

ALASKA has a big part to play as Seattle has a big part to play. The wells already dug in Alaska will be a great blessing to Washington. Like oil poured down from the North over the heads of Washington State. Likewise, from the south of Washington, wells dug in Northern California and Oregon will “sandwich in” upon Washington to see a very great tearing down of ancient walls of demonic control in this state in a very great way. Washington, it’s YOUR TIME! Nations need what you will have.

King Ramses II was in position of responsibility by the express will of God. And he was one of the most evil people that ever lived! Even in Phaoah’s position of authority, “God hardened His heart” SO THAT Pharoah would further decree evil against God’s people. It’s not because God wanted it that way to “judge or punish Israel” nor was it so without divine reason. Rather, Ramses was in position because God would soon use him to show the world how He would release His people Israel from captivity. His decision to allow Ramses in office had a divine purpose. 

Ex 7:3-5 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt, he will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and with mighty acts of judgment I will bring out my divisions, my people the Israelites. And the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out of it.”

Satan didn’t harden Pharoah’s heart, GOD DID! That was however, until God manifested His power and heart through Moses to supernaturally enforce the release of His people from captivity! (Consider Moses to be a type of today’s Church!) 

It’s NOT about whether or not God inserts a person in leadership as a judgement for or against a people group. IT IS ALWAYS ABOUT THE ADVANCEMENT OF GOD’S KINGDOM PURPOSE ON EARTH. 

No matter who is in any office, we can most certainly be assured that God’s manifest purpose on earth WILL MANIFEST FORTH. It’s NOT about whether or not the Church has failed, though our failures are certainly worthy for discussion in days ahead! IT IS about this, “God how are we the Church to be used of by you in the midst of our “here and now circumstances”… in what you are doing on this earth today and in the days ahead!” 

We were RIGHT in praying for Trump. We are just as RIGHT to pray for Biden. However, we are MISSING IT if we are so focused on hating what Biden represents, and not seeking out what God is planning to do within the term of Biden’s administration. Good, or bad… in our witness of Biden… God WILL use Biden for the benefit of the Kingdom of God on earth. That is a certainty. 

Let’s stop the hate and get busy praying for what the Lord wants to do through Biden. God heard the cries of His people Israel in their time of distress. He will hear ours if we cry out with God’s purpose in mind. If we humble ourselves and pray and seek His Face and turn from OUR OWN wicked ways, He will hear us and heal our land. As it was with Israel in Egypt, this truth forever remains, regardless of who leads this nation. God’s Kingdom Will on earth cannot be stopped. God’s Kingdom will on earth SHALL BE DONE. We can buck it. Or we can be a constructive part of it.

Isa 55:1&6  “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost…  Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.  

My dear mother and her husband live in a wonderful and remote area of America, a small town in Oregon named Medford. Though a rapidly growing city, Medford remains fairly remote in terms of visitation. It’s kind of like Vermont. It’s just hard to get there and not normally a place one would visit.

My family and I do our best to visit mom at least once per year. During one visit in 2005, we decided to drive to the Pacific Coast of Oregon. From Medford, that drive is about two and a half hours.

It’s a magnificent nature filled drive. Winding curvy country roads that follow rapid mountain rivers, giving way to vistas of gorgeous small farms, rolling hills, horses, crops, vineyards and mountain scenes that would take your breath away. We turn and wind our way across the Oregon state boarder into the northwest corner of California where Highway 199 meets the coastal Highway 101.

Very soon the drive came to a California State Park named The Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. Just before the 199 meets the 101 is this unique state park that is filled with ancient redwood trees by a river which empties to the Pacific Ocean.

We planned to stop here for a few hours to visit these magnificent trees. As it was, we were right on the edge of heat and chill, between crystal clear sun and cold low-level fog. It was gorgeous. Just a few miles from the Pacific coastline, the contrast was very visible. 

The park consisted of the Smith River, a winding mountain to ocean flow that emanates from the western California/Oregon hills. There is a lengthy walkway bridge spanning across this slow flowing segment of the river. And of course, the huge redwood trees on the south side of the river.

As I walked across the bridge, looking down into the crystal clear flowing waters I saw millions of rocks visible on the bottom. All were perfectly smooth and uniformly rounded, tumbled by the millennia of flowing and sometimes furious motion. Here, in the slow shallow flow of this river’s end, the rocks were resting motionless. These rocks were perfect and individually unique. I imagined myself as one of these unique rocks. Tumbled and molded smooth by the very Word of God.

As I looked from my stand on the bridge at the middle of the Smith River, I then looked up at these magnificent Redwood trees. These trees had been there for hundreds and some for thousands of years. I read on the park placard that there were some trees there and still alive for well over 2000 years. These trees had been drinking from the waters of this unchanging unshifting river for hundreds, even thousands of years. Some of these trees predate Christ’s work on the Cross!

That afternoon, my dear (now late) stepfather spoke to me a personal story, an event that happened to him one day at this very same park many years ago. I had his permission to share his testimony. Dave was a great man of God and a dear beloved friend and father.

Many years ago as he stood within this very same grove of redwoods, suddenly he felt the unmistakable Presence of the Lord come upon him. For but a short few minutes, he was overwhelmed with love. He had never felt this before. He said it was very intimate. He never again felt such a Presence of joy in this same way. But it greatly impacted his life. 

Having experienced the manifest Presence of the Lord in my life, I know what he was feeling, though his experience was very personal and uniquely profound to him. I do not presume to know what he specifically personally felt. All I know is this, he was made known, by manifest revelation, to the Father heart of God for him that day. And he was changed for a lifetime in that single experience. He knew that he knew, he was loved by God.

As I thought of his experience later, it is no wonder to me that this happened in this park.

It was time to leave this Holy place. Now I was standing on the north bank of the Smith River. I looked one last time at these magnificent trees before departing for the ocean. Then Lord spoke something deep into my heart. “There are some rivers that never change.”

As I thought about that day in the weeks ahead, the Lord began to reveal many things to me about rivers.

The Unchanging River

In Oregon, as it is in much of the Pacific Northwest, geographically there are mountains and hills that press up against the Pacific Ocean. Historically and for thousands of years, these mountains would fill with winter snows and then empty through a series of rivers into the Pacific Ocean.

The Rogue River is the classic example. The Rogue runs through Medford and eventually winds its way to the Pacific. This river is mighty and which is where American athletes train in whitewater activities to prepare for the Olympics. It rushes through mountain valleys in paths that have not changed for thousands of years. It channels the flow year-round of fresh winter melt waters to the sea.

The key point is, these rivers have not changed their course in thousands of years. Some rivers are unchanging. They never geographically shift position. They represent the River of God that does not change. They represent the very Word of God which when spoken does not change and which cannot change.

Heb 6:16-20 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf.

Nu 23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?

1Sa 15:29 He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.”

Mal 3:6 “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.

Jas 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

When the Lord speaks a thing, it cannot change lest the Lord be a liar. We who drink of these unchanging Rivers are shaped by these Rivers, we are nourished by them. They produce the substance of life by which everything of the Kingdom of God is formed. The Word. Jesus! Love!

It’s no wonder that my stepfather felt the presence of God in that very place of the redwoods! For the very Word of God is the very dwelling place of God. The Father wills the word, Jesus speaks the word, and the Holy Spirit manifests the word. These words emanate from the throne room of the Kingdom of God. What a Holy place, that place of the unchanging River of God, from where spires have been drinking for thousands of years, and where the rocks within were molded!

But the word only defines God. It establishes the principles of God. It establishes the laws of God. It tells of who He is. It tells of what is true and what is false. It defines The Way. It makes a way. He is The Way.

However, the word alone is incomplete as to the whole of God’s plan. The word does not define what God is actually doing in the now. It defines who God is.

As I read the Bible, I find words that define who and what God is. I also find prophetic words that speak to the future of what God is doing and will do in the days ahead.

The River that never changes speaks to the unchanging nature of God, of who and what he is. But there is a River that is forever shifting and changing! These shifting rivers prophetically speak to what God is doing and will do in the days ahead.

The Ever-Changing River and The Swampy Bog

I am an airline pilot. My work has me flying over these United States regularly. I see rivers from the air as I fly. One obvious river I see from time to time is the Mississippi River. This river is unlike the Rogue River. From the air, one can clearly see, the Mississippi River is constantly changing, constantly shifting geographic position. It winds and turns through soft and pliable lands that willingly give way to its power. Though slowly and sometimes unnoticeable, this river always shifts position. Those who live by this river understand what I am talking about!

When the river has made a change, and you can see this from the air very well, many times an area of swamp remains where the waters used to flow. This area where the river used to be has become a swamp of stagnant mostly lifeless waters. Though life is there, it is devoid of the fresh waters of the edge of the river. The water’s edge has moved to a new place. The old place of where the river used to be is where you will find these stagnant waters. They are cut off from the fresh waters flow.

This ever-changing River represents the manifesting presence of God that defines and establishes what God is doing right now and in the days to come. This is “The River of God.” This is the Holy Spirit. He winds and turns through lands, and is always shifting. One day the edge of the River is here, next it is there. Where this River changes to is the new thing of God. Where the River changes from is the old thing of God that is no more!

Where the River is today is what the Lord is doing today. Where the River used to be is what the Lord did yesterday. Where it will be tomorrow is what the Lord is doing tomorrow, and which is always a greater thing, an ever increasing thing!

Though God does not change when he verbalizes a thing, he is always increasing and doing a new thing that has never been done before. This is a critical understanding for we who are doing God’s business in this world!

The River that is ever changing is God moving from glory to glory. The people who move in these new things are moving from faith to faith! 

Those who live on the edge of this ever-changing River are a people filled with the Holy Spirit constantly shifting from the old thing into the new; a people who have uprooted themselves from old places, repositioned their rootsupon the edge of the River’s new places to drink afresh the Waters of the Spirit! Those unwilling to change from their yesterdays do not reposition, and thus miss what God is doing in the here and now. 

This River represents the increase of God’s government, the new thing, and change. It is the River that forms in the wasteland and which wells up in the desert. It is very supernatural.

Comparing Two Rivers

In the River that never changes I am like the rock tumbled and perfected in the word of God until I am formed into the likeness of Christ, God’s desire for my life. I go from rushing waters to sudden still waters. And the waters of this River are full of life-giving truth.

As the waters become still like the Smith River that morning, like the motionless rock in the unchanging River, I wait quietly and patiently for the next word that deepens my knowledge of Father God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Under the weight of the knowledge of who my God is, I find myself hungry and thirsty for the knowledge of what God is doing. I want to be a part of it. As I am willing to be molded by the unchanging rivers flow, I want also to be on the edge of God’s ever changing river. I want to be like the tree planted by the edge of the shifting River drinking the fresh renewing waters of what God is doing now and tomorrow.

I have drunk deep of the waters of the River that never changes. Now I want to drink of the waters of the River that brings supernatural life to my members! When I drink of the waters of the ever-changing River, my tree is made able to produce fruit that brings healing to the nations.

We must be drinkers of both Rivers! The River that never changes speaks to my Salvation and my home in Heaven. But the River that always changes speaks to my life here on earth. These shifting waters make me able to do great exploits for my Father and my King in the here and now. You cannot have one without the other. Both are necessary to be effective in the fullest measure here on earth.

The waters of the unchanging River set my foundation. The waters of the ever-changing River set my feet in motion to reap a harvest. Unchanging waters reveal and establish my base. Ever-changing waters reveal and then activate my call!

What we have experienced of God yesterday is never meant to be the basis for how we do things today. We build upon our yesterdays! We do not try to copy our yesterdays, nor do we make our yesterdays our limit.

We cling to the unchanging word of God that defines Him. Then we add to it the good of what God did yesterday as a basis to add upon for our tomorrows. We always seek the new thing of God in faith and with a willingness to be once again surprised with something that has never happened before. We couple our new experiences to the unchanging word and the inheritance of past revivals and build upon them. Only in this way will we succeed in the fullness of God’s call for his church.

There is a time to wait on the Lord in the unchanging River. But that is not to be mistaken for our call to forever be uprooting our tree roots and moving to the edge of where the ever-changing River has moved to. There is a vast and total difference between stagnant waters and still waters; one brings life, the other is lifeless. How many dead trees do we see in a swampy bog?

I sense the clear direction of the Lord from time to time to uproot my tree and move from where the edge used to be to the new place of the new edge of this River. I know that if I stay where the banks used to be, I have lost the fresh waters of the new thing of God. I have become comfortable in the old thing. I have lost faith for the new thing. Religion has set in.

But the shift of this River is subtle and which is discernable only over time and by the revelation of the Holy Spirit. It doesn’t look like it until you suddenly notice that the banks of the River have moved.

Isa 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

How valuable is the knowledge of the Kingdom of God! Only by the Holy Spirit are we made known of the new things of God. The Holy Spirit is “the Helper who leads us into all truth.” The NIV Bible calls him the “Counselor” who leads us into all truth. 

A Vision

One night, I had a vision. This is what I saw:

I saw a large grove of oak trees. They were all dying. These trees were all standing in an area of swampy bog. They were drinking stagnant waters. The River had changed position but these trees did not perceive it. They stayed put. They would not move.

Now there were young trees and old trees. They were all dying. The Lord told me, “These trees are drinking from the waters of their yesterdays.”

Next thing I knew, there was a man standing tall on the top of a hill. He was yelling. “The River is not there anymore! The River has changed! It’s over here! Come over here so that you may live!”

Sadly only a few trees uprooted and moved. End vision.

I will not be like the oak tree that is dying in the stagnant still swampy waters of where the ever-changing River used to be. Such a way is the basis for religious theological man made thinking. Whenever we define God by what he did yesterday we limit God to yesterdays ways which no longer exist. It causes us to disbelieve for the new thing. The result is the coming on of religious shackles that limit our walk.

After contemplating this vision, the Lord brought to my mind this scripture:

Mark 8:22-25 They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.”Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.

Jesus knew that it was more important to first heal this man of spiritual blindness before healing him of his natural blindness. So, he was given this vision of walking trees. How great was this vision! Are we not like these trees that must uproot ourselves from time to time and move to the new place of the ever-changing River of God? Would that not look like people who are trees walking around?

We are all like trees who need the nourishment of these fresh waters to live. We need the fresh waters of the Holy Spirit to know and to do what the Father wants of us, within the context of what He is doing now and tomorrow. Therefore we must be living on the edge of this ever-changing River of God. This is an ongoing act we must make. We must uproot and move to the new place of the ever-changing River that we might drink the fresh new waters of revelation and supernatural power.

Ezek 47:1-12 The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side. As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in– a river that no one could cross. He asked me, “Son of man, do you see this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. He said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, where it enters the Sea. When it empties into the Sea, the water there becomes fresh. Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds– like the fish of the Great Sea. But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.“

Unmistakably there is reference to both spiritual Rivers of which I speak in this Ezekiel passage. We are the trees, we are the Body of Christ! We must be living on the edge of these fresh waters lest we die of spiritual thirst!

Matt 13:52 He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

Simply said, the old treasures are found in the River that never changes, and which are invaluable. The new treasures are found in the ever-changing River and which are also invaluable. We need both!

To drink of the ever-changing River requires a new and fresh leap of faith. For it is true that whatever is new has never happened before. It requires revelation. It requires intimacy and humility. Brothers and sisters, we need both Rivers to succeed in our Kingdom call.

Lastly, consider these applicable scriptures:

Zech 9:10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Ps 72:8 He will rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.

(Notice that the word “River” is capitalized in the above two scriptures in the New King James and NIV versions…)

Gen 2:9-10 And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground– trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river watering the garden flowed from Eden…

Rev 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Even in Heaven we will be living by the River of God! How important is the understanding of it for us today, here on earth! From the beginning of creation to the end of time and beyond, there will always be the River of God bringing life to wherever it flows.

Even in this life, a few days without water bring death. How much more then should we who are born of the Spirit be filled with the spiritual waters of God that bring life to places of death on this earth? All around the world, people who do not know the love of God are dying of thirst! Shouldn’t we be the ones who bring them the waters of life that change? Were we not commissioned from Jesus Christ before he returned to Heaven to do this very thing?

Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

May we all be heavy drinkers of the waters of life from both Rivers so that we might reap a great harvest, a reward to Jesus for his sufferings. And, by an act of our will, forever be repositioning our roots by the ever shifting River of God.

Rev 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.

Some say that at conversion, we have been suddenly and completely equipped with everything we need to succeed in our earthly ministry. This is in part true and in part false. A close look at Scripture bears out the difference. 

There’s allot of confusion on this matter in the Body of Christ. And for a very dark demonic reason. If satan can confuse what is our Christian status and identity with God, he renders us powerless and ineffective in this world. For, whatever we believe, right or wrong, good or evil, of God or of the world… we empower. 

As to salvation and our status as “born again,” this is a finished work for all who believe. As for supernatural equipping after our salvation, God’s supernatural supply is ongoing and necessary! 

Let’s look first at what is finished. 

No doubt we HAVE BEEN crucified with Christ. Our old man no longer lives. 

No doubt we HAVE BEEN made a New Man Creation through Christ Jesus. No part of our old man has a right to a place in our new being. 

No doubt sin HAS BEEN completely done away with in us through Christ Jesus. I am no longer defined by sin. 

I am a completely New Man! These truths are past tense. These things are finished works. These things are complete! Only if you believe it! 

I am no longer defined by sin. Sin no longer has a hold on me. By Faith thru Grace. This is a done deal. It is finished. It needs no further action. Paul makes that abundantly clear in Ephesians 2 and Galatians 2:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked (past tense), following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…

…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive (past tense) together with Christ-by grace you have been saved (past tense)- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (past tense), so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been (past tense) saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. – Ephesians 2:1-2, 2:4-9

I have been (past tense) crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live (current and future tense) in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. – Galatians 2:20

If my old man self no longer lives, then that who I used to be must be fully dead. How can my old man self be brought back to life again lest I simply will not believe in who Christ says I am? 

How can your old man self still live, lest you don’t believe what Christ did at the Cross, this Gospel truth?

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh (their old man self). Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he IS (current and future tense) a new creation. The old HAS passed away (past tense); behold, the new HAS come (a COMPLETELY finished work). – 2 Corinthians 5:16-17

So then let this be set in stone in our hearts, like a stone that sets the foundation of a building! It is a done and settled thing that my old man is dead and that I am now and forever will be a new man creation. NO FURTHER WORK IS REQUIRED IN THIS REGARD!

There can be only one reason that sin can continue in a believer. The believer does not know his or her new person already established identity! It Is for this reason that Paul said: 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealedfrom FAITH to FAITH, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17

Dear Saint! Believe in who you ARE! 

Now then what about that which requires an ongoing equipping?

Once salvation has been established in the spirit and soul of a new believer, there remains a certain process of equipping that is provided by the Holy Spirit upon the believer and upon the Church. Indeed it can be said that without the express invitation of the Holy Spirit, there is no equipping and no spiritual growth. The church might be occupied by born again believers, but the equipping for the works of the Church into the nations is either lacking or nonexistent! The believer and the Church, though alive in Christ is all but dead as to the manifestations of Christ through the Church outward into this world! This is a grievous misunderstanding about the need for and the works of the Holy Spirit in our midst! 

In short, we have our salvation identity, but we need His equipping in an ongoing way! 

As to the equipping of the Saints to do good works on earth until the day of our entry into Heaven, we are constantly in need of whatever God chooses to supply to us in and of the power of the Holy Spirit. We are forever called into this wonderful place of dependence. 

Thus, through prayer, praise then worship, we forever seek His guidance and equipping to succeed on earth as He is in Heaven in Holy Spirit power. This is the part of our Christian walk that demands an ongoing need of Him! 

Do not confuse being in need of the Spirit with being in need of a Savior to re-save you! Do not confuse who God made you to be with who you used to be! That is finished! Likewise always remember your state of dependence upon the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit. So that by the Spirit, you can reap for Jesus the reward for His sufferings! 

Let’s look at some scriptural reference to our ongoing need of His equipping: 

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. – Philippians 2:12-13

This scripture has nothing to do with eradication of ongoing sin! It has everything to do with the ongoing need for His help to will and then to work His plan for our lives into this world. A night and day difference. 

God working in me to manifest Christ into this dying world is an ongoing process. It doesn’t say God who worked in you. It’s says God who works in you. It’s a current and future statement, not past tense. 

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. (Current and future tense)- 1 Corinthians 12:4-6

It doesn’t say “God who empowered.” It says God who empowers, again an ongoing manifestation. 

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. – Hebrews 13:20-21

Paul’s is praying for something vital here. If what Paul is praying for has already occurred, why pray for it as if it has yet to happen? May God… “equip you with everything good…” Yes, I might thank Him for having equipped me. But why pray for something unless it has yet to fully happen? Indeed we have been equipped in many regards. But we pray for His ongoing manifestation for what has yet to be given. 

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. – 1 Corinthians 15:10

Now here we understand that a particular supernatural Grace from God was with Paul from the beginning. Here, Paul defines Grace with His words! Grace is POWER! Paul, in power, was given His understanding through the Spirit and not of any man. Paul, in power, was placed in authority as an Apostle. Paul carried a measure of Grace power but he knew alsothat Grace is an ongoing need. Paul knew that we walk in Grace and that we always need more Grace! As Scripture says, from Faith to Faith. If Grace first requires Faith then so also we move from Grace to Grace! 

So Grace is the power of the Holy Spirit that permeates everything from start to finish, from the day of salvation to the day we go to Heaven! 

Yet in every letter, Paul starts with a greeting and a request of God for his readers that “Grace be with you.” And so as Paul prays always for more Grace, we understand our lesser condition without it! 

Through Paul, we learn that upon our conversion, a measure of Grace has been given.  “By Grace you have been saved.” But, we also understand that there is a future Grace for our successes on earth that is an ongoing necessary flow. Paul wouldn’t be praying for more Grace for his readers if there was no need for ever increasing Grace to remain successful in our earthly ministry. 

Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. – Philippians 1:1-2

How mighty is the Grace of God! How mighty is the Holy Spirit who brings it! How mighty is His LOVE that provides it! 

And so our identity in Christ is complete, set in stone, a thing finished! But as for our life-walk after conversion, our works for Christ, we depend upon the Holy Spirit! 

One last thought to bring this discussion full circle. 

All that the Holy Spirit has for our equipping already has been made available to us through Christ Jesus. All we need do to gain our equipping is to be in relationship, to abide in the Vine, to reach out by FAITH and receive the Grace that Christ died for! 

Healing the sick. Casting out devils. Cleansing the lepers. Raising the dead. Prophesying Gods heart. Providing for the Church. Loving on the lost. Feeding the hungry. Our equipping is but an arms reach away. If we simply would believe and not doubt. When we believe, God sees our heart. He then sends the Grace we need to make what we believe so. 

Do not misunderstand this ongoing need! God bids us to seek His Face. It’s in those times that He provides all we need. Face to Face! Intimacy! MANIFESTING LOVE! That is what starts it, what provides it, and how He finishes it. 

Know who you are. Know what you need. Love your Lover! And then go out and love the lost! Tell them of Him! As you were saved, so save the world! 

Faith is the bridge between who I used to be and who God says I am. I must walk across this bridge to the other side. I must CHOOSE to believe.

God will never violate our free will. It is for this reason that so many never find Heaven. He presents Himself to us. We must take His hand, by choice.

I AM NOT what God says I am until I first accept it, until I first believe it. Faith FIRST, in all things.

The Word HAS BEEN spoken. It is finished. God does not need to do anything else to make it so. I first read about His love for me. If my heart is willing, I must then believe what I read. Then, the Spirit comes with revelation understanding to reveal these truths into my heart. As I believe in what He has made me, I then become it, by Grace. GRACE, the very power of God that makes what was not, SO! By Faith through Grace…

How simple it is to be with God. How simple it is to miss Him. And the difference? It starts with… CHOICE. Cross the bridge set before you!

“Bible knowledge without Bible experience is pointless.” Bill Johnson

“It is by revivals of religion that the Church of God makes its most visible advance.  When all things seem becalmed, when no breath stirs the air, when the sea is like lead and the sky is low and grey, when all worship seems to have ended but the worship of matter, then it is that the Spirit of God is poured upon the Church, then it is that the Christianity of the apostles and martyrs, not that of the philosophers and liberals, keeps rising from the catacombs of oblivion, and appears young and fresh in the midst of the obsolete things of yesterday and the day before.”  Sir William Robertson Nicoll

I am a direct descendant of John Knox Witherspoon. John Witherspoon was the sixth great grandson of the great Scottish Reformer, John Knox. Witherspoon was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, the sixth President of Princeton University, and the man historically responsible for bringing the Presbyterian Church from Scotland to the United States. Witherspoon was the only signer of the Declaration of Independence who was a clergyman. Between Witherspoon and myself, five of seven generations were Presbyterian Ministers.

I have a great love for this and all denominational churches in America. My heart breaks for this church foundation. But my heart burns for God to do and have His way in all His churches. I hope for these denominational houses of God to be filled with the Spirit of love and joy and unity. However, I am a member of a non-denominational church and will never go back to denominational ways until the Spirit of God is fully welcome in such places. 

Worldwide denominations are dying. In most cases, they are all but dead. How many souls are being saved in these churches on a weekly basis? How many sick are being healed? How many people are being delivered from emotional wounds and social dysfunctions, not with programs and salves that only cover over, but with outright powerful supernatural healing? My Bible says, along with salvation, that healing, deliverance and life from the dead are things that Jesus Christ died for, things that we are supposed to be doing. They are things well understood and acted upon in the first church of Acts.

In reality “Do it yourself Christianity” is the very failure of the denominational church. For in such places, man relies on man’s old dead religious ways, man’s thinking, man’s programs, and man’s worship. Church leaderships choose to be the roof over the church, the “coverage”, instead of being the foundation of the church as Jesus chose to be. God never meant for there to be a roof over the church! 

Jesus lifted His church up to God and said, “Do with them what YOU want”. He said, “I only come to do the will of my Father.”

In today’s religious church, we do it ourselves, without God’s divine influence. The result is lifeless church; looks great on the outside, but is all but powerless and dead of the heart. People come in one way and leave the same way. Church is supposed to see people come in one way and leave healed, delivered, set free and raised back to life.

God is reduced to a God of chance rather than of a guarantee. Manipulation and control out of fear or other fleshly reasons are in place by man rather than the direct personal intimate release and love of God the Father. Only the most talented of people get released to give and the result is a nice exactly one-hour show. Meanwhile those without talent go and bury their talent. Such places leave no room for the Holy Spirit to do what Jesus Christ died for.

No church is disqualified from God’s manifest Presence to come and be free to operate. Certainly this is no less true for the denominational church than it is for non-denominational churches. I am convinced; God is willing and waiting for any Jesus believing, Bible believing church that will give Him all their reigns of control. In such a place, control gives way to love, fear gives way to intimacy, and satan gives way to the power of God! 

What do we have to fear if God is resident in the room? Could it be… money, position, or loss of control?

What will this nation look like if God’s church was fully filled with the power of Christ’s Cross? What would it look like if God’s houses of worship were filled with the fire of God’s Presence so much so that the walls could not contain it? How many would go out into the nations to reap for Jesus the reward for His sufferings? How many billions of dollars would flow through the church for this harvest? How many men and women of God would rise up into positions of national leadership and with power, authority and fearlessness declare, “This is one nation united under God!”

The rising up of the non-denominational church is not a work of man but of God Himself who has been looking for a people who would let Him lead instead of man. In such a way I have seen incredible moves of God in our city and into missions works around the world. (As of this writing…) My church alone has sown over $2 million annually into international missions and with only 2000 members. I myself have been sent out to Ukraine, China, Bulgaria, Mexico and beyond to minister in love on a part time basis. The church explodes when the Holy Spirit is given release to lead. And then we take it to the streets and to the nations.

People who do not understand the purpose and work of the Spirit in the post Cross church are the ones most vocal against it, just as were the Pharisees in Jesus day. The Pharisees accused falsely against what they did not understand and what they would not believe. 

If you want to see real Christian unity that lovingly affects this nation in the days ahead, it must be of the Spirit, by the Spirit, for God… not of man, by man, for God. 

The question to the denominational church is this: “Do you want what God is doing today and tomorrow? Or do you want to stay in the old dead lifeless swampy bog waters of where God’s River used to be? Yesterday is gone! Why should we live in our yesterdays? The Bible says, “I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?” 

As the world is upon the brink of an amazing manifestation of the Holy Spirit, this following word is meant to encourage you as regards Revival in the days ahead. For it will be impossible to reap THIS harvest without the fullness of the Holy Spirit manifesting in you, upon you, and around you. Be blessed as YOU set out to reap this very great harvest of souls!

In Christ,

Scott

Apostolic Leadership in Revival

Love

If we are members of the Body of Christ, then we all know that the key to all things is love. Love unifies. Love makes two one flesh. Love poured Himself out for His Bride. Love makes the Bride of Christ and the Bridegroom one flesh. Love consummates the covenant. Love sent us the Holy Spirit. And by the Holy Spirit, we love God as one, and His people as one. 

So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:13

We, all of us are called to be exactly alike of heart. It’s why God brings us together. Yet always there is at work in the world, a spirit of division forever working to find its way in. Most of us are the same in our desire for the Church. Yet when the mind of man overcomes the revelation of the Holy Spirit, it’s only a mater of time before people diverge from the truth in many different directions. 

It’s not the work of the enemy to cause man to disagree that is the problem. Always at work in every church is an attempt to remove the manifest Presence of the Holy Spirit from within the walls of the church. That is Satan’s first work against today’s church. That is our primary problem. 

“I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:12-14

If the Holy Spirit is the Counselor who leads us into all truth, then without the Holy Spirit, we have no confirmation of what truth is. We are left to our own devices to figure out what Kingdom truth is. We diverge, we deviate we divide. 

Like any good military commander, we should target the railhead so that all things down line will grind to a halt. So it is with the enemies of God against God’s church. 

If I had a firecracker in one hand and a nuclear bomb in the other, which hand do you think my enemy will attack first? Certainly he would first attack the hand with the nuclear bomb. For it is true that the church without the Holy Spirit is like the hand holding a firecracker. But the church that manifests Revival is like the hand holding the nuclear bomb.

Kill the queen bee and the rest of the hive will scatter. It’s the same concept within the church. Stop the Spirit and the church divides from within. 

God wants us to understand the war that we are in! No military general would send his troops into a war without fully briefing his army of the strategies and capabilities of his enemy. Nor should we be ignorant of the works of Satan to silence the Spirit within Father God’s church. 

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9

We then see in this next verse that states how we overcome the enemy in our trials… namely in times of restoration directly from the Father. This is a picture of the church operating in the Manifesting Presence of God.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace (of all power), who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 1 Peter 5:10

After this supernatural restoration and renewal, we then are made able to fight the fight with supernatural weapons that we have been given. In times of His manifesting Presence by Grace through faith in the power of His cross, fearlessly and in full assurance of the working of angels and the Holy Spirit all around us, we go, we fight, we win easily. Just like Gideon did, we fight our fight supernaturally. 

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 2 Cor 10:2-3

We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way; by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. 2 Cor 6:3-8

Our weapons are spiritual, they are powerful, they are truth filled… they are LOVE!

Our love draws us to the Holy Spirit to draw upon the Holy Spirit. Our lack of love turns us away from the Spirit, left only to depend upon our woefully insufficient selves. Independent of the Holy Spirit, we are thrown into this battle with no weapons, no coverage, no protection and no backup! We need His Presence desperately and permanently. It’s what Jesus died for. 

But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. MA 6:33

Seek first…. Seek FIRST… SEEK FIRST… the Kingdom of God.

What is the very first request that Jesus tells us to pray for in the Lord’s prayer? Look carefully: 

… Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. MA 6:8-10

Your Kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven! That is our first request of God, who already knows what we need before we talk to Him. It’s like Him saying, “Don’t ask me for what you think you need, I already know what you need. Ask me to bring My Presence down to you as My Presence is up here! That is really what you need above all else.”

What does the Kingdom of God in Heaven look like? Who can describe the indescribable? The air of the Kingdom of God is love. You breath it in and out wherever you go always. There is no sickness in Heaven. There is no fear in Heaven. There is no anger in Heaven. There is no punishment in Heaven. There is no sadness in Heaven. The joy of the Lord is everywhere in Heaven. Worship is continuous in Heaven. Laughter fills the air in Heaven. Beauty indescribable is everywhere in Heaven. Eye has not seen and ear has not heard… And this is just the beginning of what could hardly be expressed in words about the Kingdom of Heaven!

THAT is what God is asking us to ask Him for as our very first request of Him in the Lord’s prayer, that He would bring the Kingdom of Heaven down in our midst, on earth as it is in Heaven. 

Who is it that brings to us the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven? He is the Holy Spirit of God. And how does this happen? When we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness in our midst. Everything else follows His Presence! Everything of Kingdom worth. 

The church without His Kingdom come in manifest form is like a car without an engine. And the church without the Holy Spirit is like the engine without the gas. Jesus died so that His church can be complete, steadfast, lacking in nothing. 

And so the very first work we should always press in to is to love in all things. Love starts it. Love brings it. Love reveals it. Love consummates it. Love changes everything. The very manifestation of the Holy Spirit of all things, is first the manifestation of love amongst us. For who can explain the glorious Presence of God outside of the revealed word of love? Yet love itself is a revelation!

So now faith, hope and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Cor 13:13

The kingdom of God is a Kingdom of pure and perfect love. The very air we will breath in Heaven is love. Love will utterly surround us. Love will permeate us. Love will be in our every word. 

When the Holy Spirit manifests upon us here on earth, we are touched by Father’s Kingdom love. We are touched by Jesus forgiving power. We are immersed in love. We are then endued with love. Love is our everything. And the Holy Spirit is the bringer of it. Oh how we need the Holy Spirit to love well! 

I have found, as part of my testimony of Revival, that I was unable to love well until I was filled by the Holy Spirit in times of His Presence. Yet even so, as much as I was full of myself, I was quickly able to turn away from Him. What I found was that Father wants a people who will live both the lifestyle of confession and repentance and the lifestyle of Revival. Combine this with knowing who we are in Father’s eye will stabilize our walk and define our ministry works here on earth until we go home to be with him. 

By walking both privately and corporately in the continuous manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit, my love is made able to align with His love. My heart is made able to love well. My heart would be continuously revealed to love so that my life would be a living walking testimony of His love. 

It’s my love that saved me. It’s His love that fills me. It’s our love, Hand in hand, that saves the nations! 

Our Call

Where we tend to fail is in how we express this love. We must first be revealed to love. Then we must be revealed to our identity and individual call from the Lord. Then we must connect this wonderful love within our hearts to our identity and our call. We live our love best when we operate within the confines of our detailed call from the Father. 

Two things we must fully come to know. 

1. We must fully recognize who we are in Christ Jesus. We have been saved through the blood. We have been resurrected into new life, having been made a new person through Christ Jesus by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. We are dead to the old person that we were, and made alive in the new person that we now are. Fully saved, fully delivered and set free from the power and the cost of all sin forevermore. We are not the old man that we used to be. We are a totally new creation, having been made righteous, made new, totally forgiven, walking in the Spirit and in the full knowledge of our righteousness by grace through our faith. This is our identity. Do you believe this in your life? Is this you? It must be, or your are missing the very point of your salvation!

• Then we must know our call according to the Biblical references of what calls are. Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher, Prophet, Apostle and there are many other calls made known within the written revealed word of God. We fit into one of these calls according to what God formed in us before we were conceived in our mother’s womb. We are not what we think we are, we are, by revelation knowledge what the Bible says we are. There are many who go off into non-biblical definitions of what a call might be. Therein lies great error. Our power to succeed rests in the accurate revealed knowledge of who we are called to be according to the revelation of the Spirit aligned with the revealed Word of God. 

Herein lies a serious problem that we must understand. There are many strategies of the enemy against the church. The primary strategy is to snuff out the fire of the Presence of God from within her walls. But another key strategy is to leaven, or falsify the truth of the knowledge of our identity and our call. We must be revealed to our identity in Christ. We must be revealed to the call within which we are to operate. It all starts by grace through faith, then is made whole by grace through faith. 

As the Body of Christ, together as one, we desire the power of God. We love the Holy Spirit. We love the Body of Christ. We are broken hearted to see the wounds of humanity. We seek to bring love and to be love. We seek to bring forgiveness. We seek deliverance and healing. We seek to bring reconciliation, not by good sounding arguments, but in the power of love. We hunger for the lost to be found. We hate division, but we love the Church. We are the same of heart. Yet how we reconcile ourselves to these facts is critical. How do we do these things well? We seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things follow! How do we know our identity and our call? We seek first the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven, and all these things will follow!

One Body of Christ, Many Parts

Each of us rightly differ in one very critical area. Our call. What you bring and what I bring is full of love but a different expression of it. You are the knee, I am the elbow. 

The following words mean so much to me. Because I have seen, time and again, how ministers consider their call to be the most important of all. Prophets think prophesy is first. Worshipers think worship is first. Evangelists thing evangelism is first. Teachers think teaching comes first. Encouragers think encouragement comes first. The Word brings clarity to the problem. And it brings the solution, all in one precious wonderful paragraph. Here it is:

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 12:12—13:2

Our call for the Body is different. But we need each other in love. Our desire is the same. But we each express our ministry according to our different call. And for all of us, our love is paramount. I honor each of you for the individual part of the Body that you are. 

For all of us, this is always the time to go lower and to be pressed in the wine press. That’s such a good thing, however uncomfortable it might feel. Father’s goal is for us to get rid of the flesh within the expression of our call. To squeeze out the anger and the frustration that comes out of our words. It’s a precious time, this crushing and breaking within the Body. But as we go through it, this process of pruning, we encourage each other by honoring each other for the unique call we have to sow into our sphere of influence. 

I understand our hearts in the matters of love. We have it ingrained in our being to love and be loved by God. We were made by love for love to be love. Indeed love comes first. I love this truth. I love the truth of loving on those who have been missing love. And there is no one in my life walk that has manifested love to the Body of Christ more endearingly that I have witnessed from the Spirit filled church. But love follows the Presence always! It does not precede His coming, it follows Him. It’s why Jesus told us to pray asking first for the Kingdom of God to come on earth as it is in Heaven. We need our cup filled before we pour ourselves out. 

But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. MA 6:33

As I have been before the Lord in times of His dealings with me, I can definitely see how at times my heart is unloving. I bear witness of my occasionally cold heart. I also know of this anger that rises up in me from time to time, this frustration that so few people see the need for the Presence in the church, or don’t understand the fullness of His coming and seek it not. After so many years of witnessing religious error around the world, I know that I have become frustrated and at times angry in how I talk about religion or error.  

It’s been a wrong way in my sometimes cold heart. But I have gone before the Lord and truly repented from my heart. 

I find myself needing to be re-reminded to these three key points in how I present these things. 1) Right timing in the release, 2) Removal of any sense of anger in it, and 3) Always encourage in love as I express it. 

Here in this book, it is my desire to be completely transparent with you so that you might see where I have fallen that you might find the better way to bring Revival in your sphere of influence.

Just recently, my wife and I went to see the Mel Gibson movie, “Hacksaw Ridge”. 

Amongst so many spiritual lessons from this movie, there were two things the Lord told me through this soldier “Doss” that spoke deeply into my spirit. 

Firstly, Doss didn’t force his beliefs on anyone. He lived his beliefs. He explained his heart when pressed by everyone who thought him crazy. He never changed away from what he knew to be the truth. But he more lived it then spoke about it. When the time came for him to prove his faith, he did so without fear and with great courage. He knew his call, walked in his call and was true to his call. We are NOT Doss! His call is not our call. Yet we can learn from Doss in how he lived his faith. 

The second thing the Lord spoke to my heart was a confirmation and an affirmation to me from the Lord. Even when not one person, family or friend, understood Doss, he did not change his beliefs. 

This has been the story of much of my life. And I have indeed received persecution for it. 

As Doss was standing in the court of accusation, with absolutely no one on his side, there I saw myself. I have been where Doss has stood, literally. That is a story for a different day… Yet as Doss stood, so I also am to stand, so we are all to stand even when no one sees our faith or our call. 

Of many things I saw in this movie, here are a few thing I saw that must change in me. I must respond to accusations in love. I must express God’s heart in love and in courage as the Spirit leads when the opportunities arise. 

Some say that if no one affirms you, you must be operating in error or sin. Others say that if no doors open to you, you must be walking in error. Sometimes this is true, yet this is not always the case. After Doss’ faith was made known, at every turn, doors were closed to Doss in his face. I very much know how he feels. 

It’s the hardest thing to carry a truth that very few see. And I’m not speaking in pride here at all. 

I was in tears as the Lord lovingly affirmed me, even in the face of persecution from those closest to me. Twice in that movie I was in deep tears as Father confirmed and affirmed in my heart who He made me to be, as well as how Father wants me to change.

That was only one of many words Father gave me from that movie. Same with every one of Mel Gibson’s movies by the way. How God is using Mel Gibson is ways we will only fully know when at Home with Father! 

Speaking to the Need for Change in the Church

Yes! We are a family. I’ve spoken on this issue from the heart before our groups time and again. All who believe are a family. No one is disqualified who accept Christ from the heart. This is my true heart in this matter. Every church is family, and we are all a part of it. No one is disqualified who declare the name of Christ Jesus. Yet even so, our goal is maturity. And there is only one way to maturity, by the infilling and manifesting Presence of the Holy Spirit in all we do. This is my encouragement to the institutional churches. Be filled with the Holy Spirit. Seek first the Kingdom of God. 

From my childhood to young adult, I grew up going to Catholic Mass on Saturday nights, and then on the very next morning to Congregational Church, or the Methodist Church, or the Episcopal Church (all four churches my mother was connected with, my step dad a Catholic). I witnessed it all. And I loved them all! 

I witnessed full Revival in an Episcopal Church in the late 1970’s in Darien, Connecticut USA. Imagine that! It was my first witness of the Holy Spirit… right in the denominational church! I loved it, though I did not understand it. I felt the love! I was just 19 years old…

I’m a direct descendant of John Knox, the founder of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland. Knox was world renown as the “Great Reformer”. I’m his direct descendent. It’s why my parents named me “Scott.”

John Knox was world famous for exposing church error, which brought about the Great Reformation of the mid 1500’s throughout Europe. And you can well imagine, as Knox was speaking these things, he was not very popular! Now you see, I’ve got reformation in my blood! That’s who I am! That’s the primary part of my call! That’s who God made me to be. 

For me to stop speaking on the need for change is like taking a fish out of water. 

I LOVE the Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Episcopalian Church and the Presbyterian Church. No church is disqualified who preaches Jesus. Yet there remains the need for the Holy Spirit to come and to stay.

Yes, I see Spiritless error and I openly speak about it. But, please hear my true true heart…  I don’t hate anyone for their error. I want them healed of it! That is love expressed rightly, that is not judgment. 

How can darkness flee if it is not exposed by The Light? How will they know unless someone tells them? This was John Knox’ part to play. And history shows, he was deeply persecuted for it. This is my part to play, even if no one has ears to hear. 

I’ve adored the Chinese people! It is by no means in my heart to beat anyone into submission with my words. My heart is to show them and whomever else might listen, that religion and the ways of man put above or ahead of the ways of the Spirit leads to lifelessness in the church!

Yet still, it is impossible to explain the right way without sometimes expressing what is in error. Certainly the best way is to have them experience the right way; to invite them into the Presence in love and let them hear of it from the Spirit Himself. Yet, times of speaking it are necessary. 

Evil Report

Read the story of Numbers 13-14.

What was the evil report of the 10 spies who spoke their report to Caleb and Moses? 

Remember first that God gave Abraham the promise that this “promised land” would be given into the hands of Israel. Moses already had the promise, that regardless of the circumstances, this was their land. The spies returned to Caleb and Moses and their report included a discouragement designed to lead Israel to not believe in God’s promise of that land! 

Why was the report bad/evil? The report was designed to lead Israel to disbelieve the supernatural power and promise of God, by which He would, in power, give this land into their hands. 

It’s like me standing before a heart felt seeking church who has never experienced Revival and saying to them, “Yes the Holy Spirit moves in power! But, what happens is weird and crazy and maybe you should think twice before you go there.”

That is an evil report. 

Discouraging people away from the power and promises of God, that is an evil report. Certainly, I have never done this. Not ever. 

Speaking of the need to change is not giving an evil report. Exposing religious error is by no means speaking an evil report over anyone.

Any report designed to convince a people to turn away from God’s Presence, His supernatural power and His promise is an evil report. It is our ministry call to do just the opposite, to turn people to His Presence and promises and to help them believe it. We are leading them into the Presence, not turning them away from it. 

Not in any one of our meetings, have we ever walked into a meeting not seeing the good of the people in those places. Never have we done that. We would never have done such a thing. We have always spoken of church error without ever pointing a finger at anyone in our hearing. Yet many times I knew that the word of correction that I was bringing was for some in the room. 

Yet in every case of discussing religious error, the purpose is for a change out of it, never for the purpose of bringing guilt, shame and certainly not to condemn. That has never ever been in my heart. 

If by speaking of the error of religion has turned people away, that is not because of an evil report. If people turn away in offense, so long as we were not hateful against them, this is not our fault. 

The fear of offending man has no power against the expression of the truth in love. It should be very much expected that when expressing the need for change amongst those who do not see the need for change, there will arise an offense. The enemies of God hate truth revealed. When truth is expressed in places of darkness, either on the one to one or corporately, darkness is confronted with Light! Either people will cling to it who have a teachable pliable hungry heart, or the result will be confrontation and persecution. Where truth is rejected, the guaranteed result is persecution. We don’t shy away from persecution for fear of man. We speak truth in love, and we speak truth in boldness. 

Persecution is not an indication that we are doing things in error. Persecution is proof positive that we are doing things right! (I would add that times of crushing and braking from the Lord is not persecution. We need to know the difference.) 

This would be different if we speak with hatred. Of that, of coarse repentance is in order. 

I want to see people healed of rejection, church or otherwise, but never at the expense of truth. 

I will say this… Any teaching that suggests that anything should be put ahead of the work of the Holy Spirit or the revealed Word of God… that is an evil report. 

Conversely, if the bringing of the word of correction leads one or many into the joy of the Lord, how can this be spoken of as an evil report? 

We are family. No one is disqualified from the love of the Body. I have spoken these exact words before our groups time and again. However, one thing I will never say is that anyone is “disqualified.” No person and no church is disqualified from the hope of glory! And so we move forward to express that truth to whomever has ears to hear and eyes to see.  

The Apostle’s Call

There is an important reason why we should ask each other what our call is for the church. If you see my call and accept it, then it becomes necessary to release me in my call. As I always release others, without question nor with any judgment whatsoever, so the Body must also understand my call and release me in it. 

We must know what our call is according to the revealed written Word of God, and then walk in it. 

If I am seen as a father, then my role is to love the Church like a father would love, teach, exhort and at times correct his children. There is no Biblical call of “father”. The closest thing that fits this description is apostle. Those who are “fathers or mothers” in the church have an apostolic call. They must be seen as such and released as such. 

If I’m seen as apostolic, then my roll is to lead, teach, encourage, exhort and when need be, correct like a father. 

What father does not guide his children? What father does not discipline his children? What father does not teach his children? What father does not adore his children? This is my heart. This is why I speak. 

Without right vision, children throw off restraint. Prov 29:18

I am apostolic. And I was released this way from Chuck Pierce and Global Spheres. Likewise, the Spirit made it clear to me in my season at the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship in 1999-2004 that my roll was to lead people into Revival, an apostolic call. 

I didn’t ask for it, Father sent me to Toronto on a divine appointment. And in Toronto, Father placed this mantle on me. As God has made each of the Body parts for the church, so He has made of me an apostolic Revivalist. 

My wife and I have a formal responsibility. But far greater than that, I have a responsibility first to my Father. Even if not one door opens to me. That’s not pride, that’s obedience. 

The Modern Day Apostle

The Apostle never looks to be honored. He looks to honor. He does not care about a title yet walks firmly in his call.

The Apostle never seeks to be served. He serves always. 

The Apostle leads by himself first being led by the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle spreads Revival by walking in Revival. He is a Presence seeker always.

The Apostle is a representative of the Holy Spirit. He is a messenger. 

The Apostle leads by having relationship with those whom he leads. He loves in all things. 

The Apostle restores that which is broken with truth. He turns people away from paths of error.

The Apostle is a peacemaker who shuns divisions be speaking against that which divides. 

The Apostle spreads Gospel truth by walking in the Word of truth, not by good sounding arguments.

The Apostle is an advocate. He is chosen by the Holy Spirit, not by any person. 

The Apostle is a missionary. He has a mission. But missionaries are not always apostles.

The Apostle is one who is sent out. But “sent out” has many meanings. 

The Apostle is a warrior. Because the Apostle is constantly confronted and his roll always is to advance his troops into new grounds. He wars with the weapons of the Spirit. 

The Apostle is fearless. Because he faces accusations time and again. 

The Apostle walks as Christ, so that all who do accuse would be revealed to truth. 

The Apostle fathers by himself being fathered by the Spirit. There are no earthly fathers but apostles. 

The Apostle walks in the fruits of the Spirit, so that souls might witness true love.

The Apostle always seeks the next leader to minister in to. Because many who would lead have many doors in front of them to choose from. He guides them through the right doors. 

The Apostle is a pioneer. He is always on the edge of the unknown, always leading the church into the spiritual by faith. 

The Apostle leads the church off the map of what is known into spiritual realities that are formerly unknown, now revealed, yet always aligned with the Word of God.

The Apostle is just as invaluable to today’s church as they were in the first church. His roll is being restored as we speak in the Light of Truth. 

Footnote: As to gender, there are female apostles as well as male. This call is not gender specific. 

Scriptural references: 1 Cor 12:11,28-30, John 15:16, Acts 20:28, 2 Tim 1:11. Eph 2:20, Acts 11:28, 21:10-11, Eph 3:5, 2 Cor 12:12, Acts 8:6-7, Heb 2:3-4. Heb 3:1, Acts 1:26, Gal 1:15-17, 1 Cor 15:7-9, 2 Cor 11:5, Rom 1:1, 2 Cor 8:23, 2 Cor 12:12, Luke 10:1-3.

Biblical example of Apostles included Paul, Barnabas (Acts 14:4), Silas (1 Thes 2:6), Timothy (1 Thes 2:6) and Titus (Book of Titus), amongst others.

False Apostles: 2 Cor 11:13, speak to the importance of right apostleship. 

Works of the Apostolic Person

If I am the apostolic man God has released me to be, then I respectfully disagree with any notion that suggests that I should cease bringing words of correction where the Spirit leads. To be clear, this is a responsibility required of a leader, especially the apostolic man. 

It is not speaking an evil report to bring a correction, unless the intent is to manifest hatred and haughtiness. That has never been in my heart. Nor should it have anything to do with today’s apostolic person. 

So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:16-17

Bringing a correction in love does not bring division it brings maturity. Bringing a correction from control or manipulation, or in judgment or hate, that is what brings division. And many in the Church are wounded by it. 

How are people led out of these wounds? In Spirit and in truth. That is to say, in love and by the expression of revelation truth.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:23-24

In Spirit, we love. And in truth, we speak. Both are necessary. Truth requires the expression of it! That is the work of the apostle. 

To stop bringing the word of correction altogether is to stop bringing truth. What needs to change in how we speak truth is the lack of love, and the lack of honor. 

When correction comes, people are wounded by one of two ways. Rejection, or self-defense.

If a correction is rightly given, those who depart wounded do so in self-defense. They will not agree out of pride. 

But, when wounds happen by corrections from a controlling leader, this is a spirit of rejection. 

We minister love in healing to all who have been wounded, regardless of the reasons. No one is disqualified from love. But we do not altogether stop the need for correction for the purpose of preventing woundedness. To stop right correction for fear of hurting people, that is humanism. More on humanism in a minute… 

I don’t want to bring division, I want them healed of it! That is the first work of the apostle.

This is where the movie Hacksaw Ridge comes to play. The soldier Doss stood FIRM in his faith and true to his call as a medic. The Lord made this very clear to me… so am I to remain true to my prophetic and apostolic call, even if no one sees it, even if I receive persecution for it, even if no doors open.

I am accountable, not to man but to Father God in what I speak and how I speak, just as each of you are accountable to Him alone in how you lead people into the Presence. 

As this truth is part of my faith, then if I do not speak as He directs, it is sin for me. 

For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Romans 14:23

What this really means is, if I violate a Spirit given conviction that God has placed upon my heart… it’s a sin for me. Conviction is the fruit of faith. 

Yes, if I speak in anger and frustration, this is a sin. But if I remain silent, this also is a sin. Therefore, I must speak, but always speak it in love.

Responsibilities of the Apostolic Person

The Apostolic work is to speak to the churches the truth based upon the Gospel of Jesus and by the Spirit of God. His job is to highlight what is being done right, with encouragement. His job is, in love and encouragement, to expose what is being done wrong to bring correction. All these things are done through the release of the Spirit in love and with authority. 

In most of the epistles written by the Apostle Paul, he starts the writing with these words, “Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ…” Paul knew his calling. Paul spoke boldly but in love. Paul always operated in love, but also in the firmness of truth, not interested in man pleasing but in pleasing God over all. Paul was our very obvious example of right apostleship. 

Amongst so much scripture on these matters, there are three very key scriptures that guide me in my calling: 

“Through (Jesus) and for his name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith. And you also are amongst those who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.” Romans 1:5-6

“Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle to Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness – A faith and knowledge resting on the hope of a eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time, and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior.” Titus 1:1-3

Paul speaking exhortation to Timothy said this: “All Scripture (the revealed Word of God) is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Jesus establishes the call upon all members of the Body. The apostle raises up the faith of the Body by the expression of truth. The apostle corrects error, and brings teaching that manifests completeness in the Body and equipping of the Body for every good work. 

Apostles Call to Correct

How did Paul deal with error in the church? We find these words to the Galatians: 

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:1-3

“Foolish Galatians?” “Who has bewitched you?” These are real harsh sounding words! 

What if the Apostle Paul entered into our meetings and spoke this way before certain people today, would we call him angry, unloving or judgmental? How would you respond to such a direct rebuke? 

How did Jesus minister against error in the church? Consider how Jesus responded to Peter’s error… This very same Peter upon whom Jesus would found the church:

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Matthew 16:21-23

Peter was in the error of wrong thinking, the primary root of religious error. Jesus exposed Peter’s error very directly. Was Jesus angry with Peter? Was Jesus judgmental of Peter? Was Jesus unloving or hateful of Peter for speaking these words? 

By the Spirit, we know how deeply Jesus loved Peter. Yet, out of love and the authority, Jesus brought a timely correction, not in anger or judgment, nor self righteousness or hate or frustration but of encouraging yet very direct correction. 

These words appear in the Bible to guide us into doing the very same things Jesus did, by those released by the Spirit. Jesus was our example. 

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. John 14:12

What Jesus was saying was, “Because I’m going to the Father, because of My shed blood sacrifice and My resurrection Power, I’m going to send to you My resurrection Power who is My Holy Spirit. In the Power of My Word, in the Power of My Name, by the Power I give you in the Holy Spirit, you will do even greater things than I exemplified to you while I was on earth!”  Powerful words!

The last thing I want to be seen as is an angry judgmental man! Yet many times when a correction was given, however loving I was, this was the accusation I received, even when no such thing was in my heart. 

I’ve had to deal with many wounds of rejection over the years. And not just from the church, but also from those closest to me. And I believe that many of my frustrations (my sins) came from this wounding. And so I repented as much as I have forgiven…

Certainly anger does nothing but wound people. It doesn’t change anyone. It only deepens the divide. And so for every manifestation of anger in frustration that has come from my mouth, I have indeed repented before the Lord. 

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20

I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling… 1 Timothy 2:8

It breaks my heart to think that the ministry that I have brought has ever been seen by anyone as being hateful, loveless or divisive. That has never been in my heart or of my intent. Yet I see it… I have been angry and frustrated at times. And so my heart is broken into repentance! And so it always should be with the apostolic person. Success is found in the lowest place of all.

Yet, to witness a people embrace a change and then move in it which results in a greater release of the Spirit, is this not love in action? Is this not what we are after? 

This is what my wife and I have sown into China as best we have been able. And the fruit of it is clearly evident. We have seen so many who have changed from darkness to Light! Why are you they where they are right now? They embraced change. 

Error of the Galatians

As to correction to the religious or those in my charge who move into error, that is part of my call. And it is clearly the responsibility of those with an apostolic call. It was this very issue that led Paul to write the entire book of Galatians. 

The very essence of Galatians is about correction. The only person who has the responsibility to bring a correction like this to a large group of believers is the apostle who has been released by the Lord to do so.

So here we have the church of Galatia who started on the right path but quickly turned to religious legalism. The Galatians started out with a Spirit filled revelation of truth, and then turned towards myths and the laws of man, and away from truth. They made the same mistake Peter did! Someone needed to come and bring a correction to the Galatians. Who was that man? He was the apostle. The apostle Paul operating within the role of his responsibility. And these were his words:

“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” Gal 1:6-7. 

“Am I now trying to win the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Gal 1:10

Hard words? Unloving words? Judgmental words? What do you think? 

Was Paul operating in hate or judgment? Certainly not, the Lord included these examples in His Word. 

There is a night and day difference between the correction brought in hate, and the correction brought in love, though even the words used might be exactly the same! Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. 

All I say below is of my heart. 

I completely agree with the need to minister in love in all things. But my question is this. Which is more loving? Is it to so please man, that we remain silent as to error for form of love? Or is it to bring correction in love that leads to newfound liberty for the few who have ears to hear it? 

If a worship leader’s love in worship brings them to the table of repentance, that is wonderful. That is the call of the worship leader. If the apostle’s love in an expression of truth brings them to the table of repentance, that is wonderful. That is my call. We must know who we are and walk in the call we have been assigned, in that and that alone. The mistake is when we think that our way and our call is the only way. This is what is changing in today’s church!

I am the elbow. You are the knee. The elbow cannot do the job of the knee, nor the knee do the job of an elbow. 

Considering Apostles Who Have Gone Before Us

Ruth Ward Heflin was a great woman of God. She was an intercessor, a prophet, a worship leader, song writer and an author of many books. She knew who she was and she walked in it. She was a Revivalist in every way. 

Ruth Heflin was a diplomat. She worked in Washington DC with Presidents, Congressmen and governmental leaders of nations. She operated with the wisdom of diplomacy, honoring everyone. It never was her primary call to bring correction into the church, nor into American government. Her call was to bless the nations through prophetic intercession. To establish a prophetic foundation for the nation of Israel. 

Though at times in Heflin’s prophetic visions she probably did bring corrections. She was more a prophetic intercessor, walking with amazing faith. And by way of her diplomatic prophetic heart, she gained audiences with many great world leaders to give prophesy. Correction of error was not her focus, she was not apostolic.

It’s different with Cindy Jacobs. Because Cindy is also an apostle. Time and again, she would deliver extremely hard words to national and church leaders. And they followed her direction. But she faithfully gave the word of correction. Different from Ruth Heflin. And I know, Cindy has been persecuted… 

What’s the difference between sisters Heflin and Jacobs? The call. 

And, if Cindy Jacobs had persecution, Heidi Baker had fifty times more! How many times have I sat under Heidi’s teaching against religious error?  She speaks of it far more than I do. And with hard direct words, though permeated with love. Yet there she is with tens of thousands of healings, over ten thousand church plants, hundreds raised from the dead. If there is anyone to testify to the necessity of speaking to religious error, it is Heidi Baker. Why? It’ is her apostolic call. 

Consider the life of William Branham. He was so full of the Holy Spirit when he stood to speak and minister healing, the stage would literally glow under the light of the legion of angels that surrounded him. Photos show this. He would call people out and prophetically publicly walk them through their life of sin and goodness. He was pinpoint accurate in detail. This always resulted in repentance, and a few people running out the door! 

Branham was one of the greatest apostolic evangelists and healers that ever lived. Talk about persecution! And he was much poorer than Ruth Heflin. Branham loved in the way God released him to love. And he was fearless of any man as he brought the word of correction in every meeting. 

Branham publicly brought correction in every one of his public meetings and not to groups but individuals openly and publicly. 

William Branham knew his call. Ruth Heflin knew her call. Cindy Jacobs knows her call. Heidi Baker knows her call. I know my call. 

Your call is not their call. Heidi Baker said this many times, “Don’t copy me. Be who God made you to be!”

This is not to reject the principle need to honor and express unconditional love in the churches. But God will manifest His love through you in His unique way and in your uniquely personal way. 

Division

If correction is necessary, whose roll is it to express but the apostolic prophetic leader. Even if the word is a hard one to hear, even if leaders are offended at what they hear. 

What did Jesus say? 

“Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Luke 12:49-53.

I certainly don’t seek division, nor did Jesus. I seek reconciliation, so did Jesus. But in this world, much of the church is blinded by pride. Jesus knew this. It’s exactly what Jesus was saying here. It’s just how it is… Some have ears to hear and a humble heart to repent and to change, but most do not. Hence, we have divisions. We don’t reject or exclude those who don’t have ears to hear. But, we are not wounded if those who disagree with what they hear turn away. 

We want them to have the chance for change. 

Some are called to bring the correction. Some are called to be the correction. 

Holy Spirit FIRST

As right change further purifies our message, we must be careful! Be careful that the change you choose is in righteousness and in truth. There is right change. But there are thousands of good sounding ideas in this world that can lead us down the road of wrong change that leads to error. 

If Kingdom truth comes forth, we change, old things die in us. The Spirit can now come forth. And the single truth of the Kingdom can be made known. Is that not what we are after? 

Love is the key! However, no one is capable of love without first being filled with the Holy Spirit, the manifest revealer of love. 

The Holy Spirit is the Councilor who leads all into all truth. And the gifts of the Holy Spirit are these: LOVE, joy, peace, patience…. the first over all manifestations of the Spirit is love. How can anyone love in power without first receiving love in times of revelation from the Holy Spirit? 

This is why we meet to seek His Presence in times of soaking. This is why people are in tears when we do. Because they recognize real love, they feel that real love upon their hearts, and for some, for the very first time. The Manifestation of the Spirit as defined by the revealed Word of the Bible MUST come first. People enter in broken, they receive love and revelation in power, and then they walk out changed. 

Is that not exactly what is happening when the Spirit enters the room? Would you say it was people loving people first? May I suggest, it is God who is first loving them, through the Spirit who first poured His love into us who lead. 

We love because he first loved us.  1 John 4:19

Anyone who brings Revival Presence into a meeting knows that they did not have anything to give them without first receiving it from the Holy Spirit themselves. We walk in full dependence of Him always.

Many argue that love comes first. I fully understand what they are trying to say about loving the brothers and sisters of Christ in all things, and I totally agree, but never in any way that contradicts or precedes the revealed Word of God or rejects the primacy of the Holy Spirit. 

Some might say, “The need for us to unconditionally love is before the Spirit, before the Word.” 

I respectfully but directly disagree that our human love comes first. Such a statement is moving towards humanism. 

The definition of humanism is this:

“An outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.”

In essence, humanism is placing anything ahead of or before God. Man solving man’s problems with man’s ideas and man’s love. 

Most of today’s charities are humanistic. Good works, but willfully or ignorantly cutting Jesus or the Spirit out of the equation. It’s an insidious disease that starts with a good sounding idea that in time manifests into a wall between man and God. 

Many churches in America are humanistic. As a result of independent human beliefs and rejecting God’s divine power and truth, they have become powerless, devoid of the Holy Spirit, focused only on man’s interpretation of the Bible. 

This is not an angry statement. This is not being judgmental at all. This is the truth. 

Even though they claim the name of Jesus, there is no Spirit. Even though they may be saved, there is little or no fruit. 

How does God fix this? He places upon certain people who are filled with the Holy Spirit the call to bring and to speak of the need to experience Him! God releases us to love and to speak. 

The worshiper calls upon the Presence. The Revivalist speaks of the Presence. It’s our individual call in the Body of Christ. 

The Kingdom of God on earth as it is in Heaven… this is Revival. It’s our first request in prayer. 

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Matthew 6:9-10

The Manifestation of the Presence of God comes fist above all things. If not, its religion. And we are not just talking about soaking. We are talking about in all things! Every meeting. Every event. 

The idea that love comes before the Spirit and even before the Word is not only deep error, it is a dangerous humanistic belief. The result over time will exchange the Presence of love and truth for happy emotions that do not heal the inner man. This is the beginning of humanism. This is man pleasing.

And you may find doors fling wide open before you as you manifest this way. People will love it. Tears will flow… But doors open to you are not a justification of being right. 

If we started out in the Spirit, how quickly He will depart from us when we put anything ahead of Him. 

God opens doors before us… so does Satan. Especially if you change away from what is Kingdom truth… Think on these thoughts carefully.

We might argue that love leads them in the door, then the Spirit changes their hearts. But it’s the Spirit who leads them in the door, it’s the Spirit that changes their hearts. This is more than a subtle difference. The Spirit comes first in all things to testify Jesus into a dying world.

The Holy Spirit is like a multi faceted diamond that in the Light of Christ shines every color of the rainbow into the room. We have no idea of the volumes and volumes of wounds and hurts and pains and fear that people have when they walk into that room, all of which the Holy Spirit sees.

Then the diamonds starts to spin, the Light spreads all around, and the people get changed to the core and walk out of the room completely shifted. Having been revealed to healing love in an instant. That is the exact opposite of humanism. 

Think of it this way…

I might go out on the street and feed a poor man a sandwich. But he will become hungry again. Or give him water, he will thirst again. Or give him a hug, a temporary peace… 

Did I love this man by feeding him and giving him a drink? Yes. But by doing so, was this man saved? Was he healed and delivered? Was he changed forever under the weight and Power of revealed love?

Our goal is to, by the Presence in us, love them into the Presence where, from the Holy Spirit, they can learn for themselves to go out and feed the poor with delicious things from the banqueting table of the Father.

We can do it the way of the world or by way of the Spirit. Which water do we choose to give?

Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water (man’s water) will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him (Holy Spirit) will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

By the manifesting Spirit, false thoughts become exchanged for truth by revelation in power. Without His manifestation, we quickly fall into religious error, however love focused we may be. 

In the Presence, The Word of truth comes alive and they supernaturally realize true love. It becomes for them a revelation that changes them forever. Only then can they, or you, give it away to others. 

The Presence and the revealed Word comes first… always, He must. Or people will only love by the flesh. And this is the danger of which I speak. 

While loving in the flesh is good, it changes nothing. Only by the Spirit does one change spiritually. It’s what Jesus died for. 

People might repent in tears and with hugs from the heart. But, go back a few months later and check and see if the change was supernatural or not… 

Please hear this warning very carefully… at every turn in your life-walk, you will find every single argument and all forms of division, persecution and anger leveled against you to stop the manifestations of the Holy Spirit from working through you. You must be very careful what you choose to believe! 

This is the root of all persecution. The purpose of persecution is to silence the power manifest works of the Holy Spirit.  There is a war going on in the second Heaven realms trying to stop the Spirit and block revelation truth even as we are speaking. It rages on all around us. 

So maybe you have been persecuted for seeking the Presence of God. Has this persecution changed you in any way? Has this persecution changed your resolve in any way? Has it changed your heart? If so, you must carefully examine your heart as to why. 

Please hear this carefully, and consider this very seriously:  If, in today’s church, the Holy Spirit is effectively silenced by our fleshly choice, in time ALL of God is silenced. They might be saved, but the church is rendered ineffective. If we even start to place anything ahead of God’s Presence, we un-invite the Spirit. This is how Revival comes to an end. 

In my studies of Revivals that have failed, this is the number one reason why they have failed. Man’s good sounding ideas replaced revelation truth.

If anyone I am connected with in ministry chooses to go down this road, it is a road down which I will not follow. Nor can I encourage anyone to follow. It is a road down which I never will go. 

Dear reader, be wise in understanding these things before you so quickly cling to a new theology from any book, or any idea from the mind of any person, or any good sounding conclusion even from your own mind. 

There is only one Word of truth, the Bible. There is only one revealer of that truth, the Holy Spirit. There is only one power by which we succeed, He is the Holy Spirit who testifies Christ in our midst. The Word, the power of our salvation. The power of our healing. 

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

For the Word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18

Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the Word of his power. Hebrews 1:3

For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Heb 4:12

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the Word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. Hebrews 11:3

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. Revelation 19:13

Love follows revelation… Love is defined by revelation, the revealed Word of the Bible who is Jesus Christ. Love manifests by the move of the Holy Spirit. 

Rejecting these truths is to reject Christ Himself. He died that the Spirit of revelation could be with us. Love is powerless and of the flesh if it is not first of the Spirit.

And again:

We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19

Last Thought

Certainly, anyone who consistently acts outside of love in ministry has no place in ministry. 

But, God is not looking for our perfection. As you well know, He’s looking for our love rightly expressed. We are all seeing the need to love better. And so am I. But this is a life-walk. We are growing up in this. It’s a process. Not one of us is perfect in love. But we are perfected not by the flesh but by the Spirit.

Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? … “The righteous shall live by faith.” Gal 3: 2-3,11

I honor each of you for who you are in Christ Jesus! So many of you love face to face to so many who know not love. You are so encouraging to those totally discouraged. You carry the power of the Spirit to heal the sick, cast out demons, cleanse lepers and raise the dead. Cling only to these truths and do not go outside of that which is written. 

I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. 1 Cor 4:6

Walk in the revealed Word by the Spirit in the Spirit and all the minor things you might be worrying about will resolve easily. 

Read these words and if you understand them, then you will understand my heart:

For our appeal does not spring from error or impurity or any attempt to deceive, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. For we never came with words of flattery, as you know, nor with a pretext for greed-God is our witness. Nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others, though we could have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us. 1 Thessalonians 2:3-8

No words can say it any better that these. This is what is in my heart. This is who I am. 

Exhortation

There are three things I would bring as a final exhortation within this word: 

1) Don’t strive for open doors. The open doors will find you. Have ears to hear which ones that Father leads you through. But seek first the Kingdom of God (Presence first over all) and his righteousness, and (then after) all these things will be added to you. Matthew 6:33

2) Success in ministry quickly leads to a certain pride and independence. I’ve seen this happen over and over again… It leads to a closing of ears, the blinding of eyes, a development of false theologies and then division. The pride of successes, in time closes the portals of Heaven. But humility softens the heart.  

3) The enemy will come at you with every good sounding argument, dressed as an angel in white, to cut you off from the Holy Spirit and the revealed Word of God. But unity in the Spirit is a wall of protection.

I pray that you will forever have a tender heart to know these things and the courage to stand firm against every work of darkness. I pray that you will always have eyes to see and ears to hear what the Spirit says to the Churches, and that you walk in fearless love. 

T. Scott Morton

Tscottmorton.com