Revival

The start and beginning of revival is a person, a people who seek His face, who can’t go another step without Him. He searches the earth for that person, that people who seek Him, who must have His face. Then His hand brings salvation, His hand brings clean robes, His hand washes clean. The revival we seek is a response to our longing for Him. He does not seek a clean vessel, He seeks a person, a people who long for His face like He longs for theirs. These are the ones who He can then make clean vessels by His hand.

There are many, many, most who come seeking His hand and He will provide. Yet there are a few who come seeking His face. Oh that they would seek His face. This is a call that as you go you would go to seek His face, His countenance, to behold the beauty of His radiant face which is towards you.

When we seek the Fathers hand we will see effect. When we seek His face we will see cause. As the Father begins moving this revival across the World, each place, each manifestation may be different. If we are seeking his hand and seeing effect we may miss what He is doing because the effect will differ. But seeking His face we will see the cause and that will not differ.

Kingdom Entertainment

I have heard it said that much of what the church does today is “entertainment”. That troubles me for 2 reasons:

One — It is a disparaging remark and I have come to see that most disparaging remarks aren’t necessarily of the Spirit. So I am disappointed when brothers and sisters make disparaging remarks about something I love.

Two – Is it true? Are we just doing actions but not doing and being what the Father wanted?

What the Spirit showed me was that yes this comment is true but not in the spirit that it is generally given.

Entertainment = Enter into attainment of His presence.

In Samuel 6:14-21 David danced with all his might and Michal watched him and thought he was just doing entertainment. She was thinking how the people perceived his dancing. Her eyes were not on God but on man. David admitted to entertainment but his eyes were on Abba. His dancing was entertainment unto the Lord.

Then I was brought in my spirit back to when I was little, maybe 5 or 6, and the neighborhood children put on a play for our parents on the front porch. We dressed up in costumes and had our parts and I don’t even remember what the play was about. But I remember bowing at the end and receiving the applause and seeing the appreciation in the eyes of my parents. I also remembered when I was even younger and putting my head down and attempting to roll over. “Look at me Daddy, Look at me Mommy” And I remember running up to them with a hand full of wilted flowers and giving it to them and basking in their joy of my gift.

Daddy, Momma, Let me entertain you – Let me bring you joy by showing you what I can do…Let me bask in your loving gaze. Look Daddy, Abba, I want to play in your presence.

You see it all depends on your perspective, who you are looking to entertain?

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Matt 18:1-4

Rep’ing the Kingdom

A few days ago on the news there was a major traffic jam in the mountains of Colorado. The news showed pictures of all the cars stopped completely. But in the middle of it all, the newscaster pointed out a car with a large can attached to the top. This car wasn’t the same as the other cars. It was a car representing an energy drink. The people in the car were representing that drink to the world. They were out of their car going to the other cars and giving cans of the energy drink away to each person.

Reminded me of Jesus with the crowds. He gave away gracelets of the Kingdom — Healing the sick, casting out demons, raising the dead and preaching the gospel to the poor. Then when he left he gave us the responsibility to give away the same gracelets of the Kingdom.

And these signs shall follow those that believe: In my name they shall cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take away serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands upon the sick, and they shall be healed. Mark 16:17-18

Truly I say to you, He who puts his faith in me will do the very works which I do, and he will do greater things than these, because I am going to my Father. John 14:12

We are representative of our Father Yahweh and His Kingdom. We may not look or act like everyone else but we go from person to person giving tastes or gracelets of the Kingdom that they may all see and taste and know that the Kingdom is good and want more.

“Oh taste and see that the Lord is good” Psalm 34:8

Is what you are giving away something that the people you come around will truly want more of?

Or are you just giving philosophy with Jesus name in it?

“for the kingdom of God isn’t just talk but power” 1 Corinthians 4:20

The Kingdom Throne Room Interpretation.

Read the vision below this first then this interpretation will make sense.

Of course the great throne room is where God, Yahweh, is enthroned. Where his presence is.

Everyone entering the throne room is his. They are all “Christians”, the saved; they have their tickets punched.

Outside the throne room is the world, the daily places we walk.

The dignitaries, emissaries, and warriors entering through the great doors are those who have known the great king. But they enter the throne room based on their robes, their anointing, their battles, their deeds, their roles, and their titles. The great King perhaps gave the robes they wear, but now they have become their robes. The great King perhaps gave the roles and titles they stand in, but now they are their roles and their titles. The great King perhaps gave the armor and swords they have, but now they are their armor and their swords wielded with their understanding. It has all become theirs, their justification, the things that give them “right” to enter the throne room.

They don’t have close relationship with the King that they give obeisance to so they go only so close to him. The things they wear weigh them down. They accept the Kings robes, the Kings armor, the Kings swords but not directly from the King because they have ceased to look directly to Him. They no longer look to His face but they are looking at each others robes, armor, weapons….They get their affirmation from each other.

When they leave the throne room they are still carrying their stuff but now they have the additional things the King has provided, but placed on top of their stuff it all becomes weighty. So they return to the world burdened.

The children that come in are those who come to the throne room of their father washed by the water of the Word, dripping with the Holy Spirit. They come with nothing to offer except their joy in their Father. Their desire is to draw close to Him, hear His heart beat, know the warmth of His love, and look into His face, His eyes.

He provides all the covering they need. He provides all the armor they need. He provides all the weapons they need. All suited exactly for each one of them. He whispers the name only He knows to each of them and tells each of His Love and what He has for them to do.

They climb down and those who are there on their own basis think that they are just nice but don’t believe they have the power, the knowledge, the presence that they do. But then the children go out with nothing but what their Father has provided.

And they become what the Father has proclaimed – His warriors who go forth with His power and His Word to shake the powers of the earth and bring their Father’s kingdom.

The Kingdom Throne Room

I saw a great throne room with 2 large golden doors at one end and on the other end up a series of steps was a great throne. The 2 doors would be opened and what appeared to be dignitaries and emissaries and warriors would come and go from the world into the great throne room. They were clothed in various robes and armors and weapons. Robes of many colors, great swords, and heavy armor, everything worn had a bit of wear, not as bright as perhaps it once was. They entered and bowed low and did obeisance to the throne. Some stood at the bottom of the steps some climbed the steps. And the one who sat on the throne would command servants from the left or the right to come and give them robes and swords and armor, many things. They would turn and leave out the great doors carrying the things given to them by the great King. Their robes and armor and swords and the ones given by the great King. And they looked much the same as when they came in as they went out.

But all of a sudden from the side of the throne, out from the curtains, comes a giggle, then a peal of laughter. The great King raises his hand to everyone in the throne room for silence. He looks to the side and smiles and laughs and then, scampering onto the very highest step right up to the throne comes His children. Some are in little bathrobes, some don’t have anything on at all, and they all look like they are fresh from a bath, dripping water all across the throne room floor. They climb on his lap and giggling look into his face, and He holds them close to his heart so that they hear his heart beat and know the warmth of his love. Then He takes clothing from His throne and He dresses them. Fine linens, wonderful colors, bright, shining. Then he takes what appears to be little armor just their size and puts it on them and He takes little swords just their size and gives them to each of His children.

And the whole room smiles and remarks how cute His children look in their little clothes and their little armor and their little swords. The great King whispers to each of them and they smile and each one gets down from the great King’s knee and crosses the throne room towards the great doors. And they walk through the great doors and the room is hushed and there is a gasp that goes up, because as each child crosses the doorway to go outside the walls of the throne room a marvelous thing happens. The children appear no longer small but are great and powerful. The children’s clothing becomes great flowing robes of light and colors. The armor expands to cover them from the crowns of their heads to the soles of their feet. The swords grow and become great and fierce weapons. When they set their feet down the ground shakes and lightning flashes and peals of thunder go forth.

Christian Economics vs Kingdom Finance, Pt 2

Building on previous definitions in Pt 1:
Matthew 15:32-38, Mark 6:35-44, Luke 9:12-17, John 6:5-13
The description of when Jesus fed the multitudes with only a few loaves and fishes.

Christian Economics says, “”Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii (200 days wages) worth of bread, and give them something to eat? Even two hundred denarii is not sufficient that everyone may have a little. Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages, and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat. There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are these among so many?” The provision is limited by what we have available.

Kingdom Finance says, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way. How many loaves do you have? He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves, and he gave to his disciples to set before them, and he divided the two fish among them all. They all ate as much as they desired, and were filled.” The provision is unlimited because of what His Kingdom has available.

Matthew 16:5-11, Mark 8:16-21
The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread. Yeshua said to them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They reasoned among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
Yeshua, perceiving it, said, “Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, ‘because you have brought no bread?’ Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up? How is it that you don’t perceive that I didn’t speak to you concerning bread?

Christian Economics sees lack and is concerned about supply. The source is limited by what we have available.
Kingdom Finance understands that no matter how much you have, even if you “brought no bread” it doesn’t affect the supply in the Kingdom. In the Kingdom provision is made for whatever the scale of need. The provision is unlimited because of what His Kingdom has available.

Matthew 26:7
a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.

Mark 14:3
While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard-very costly. She broke the jar, and poured it over his head.

Luke 7:37
Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment.

Christian Economics says “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor.” or “Why has this ointment been wasted? For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor. They grumbled against her.” The provision is limited by what we have available.

Kingdom Finance says, “Why do you trouble the woman? Because she has done a good work for me. For you always have the poor with you; but you don’t always have me. For in pouring this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of as a memorial of her.” The provision is unlimited because of what His Kingdom has available.

Christian Economics vs Kingdom Finance, Pt 1

Economics is described as a body of knowledge or study that discusses how a society tries to solve the human problems of unlimited wants and scarce resources. In economics, scarcity is defined as the condition of human wants and needs exceeding production possibilities. In other words, society does not have sufficient productive resources to fulfill those wants and needs.
Therefore Christian Economics is essentially an oxymoron. Since no where in Scripture is there any indication of scarce resources in the Kingdom. To the contrary, everywhere the Kingdom of God is mentioned there is abundance, enough for every good work, nothing lacking, etc.

Finance is basically the methodology of allocating financial resources, with a financial value, in an optimal manner to maximize the wealth of a business enterprise. Wealth is all things, such as money, property, or goods, having value. Therefore according to Matthew 13:44-45 I will define wealth in the Kingdom as being the very presence of the Kingdom.

Much of what is pushed forward today as Christian Finance/Economics/Prosperity is essentially Economics with “Christian” put in front of it. Many financial seminars that churches bring in to teach Christians financial tools seem no different from what you could get anywhere in the world (except maybe they add the magic religious word, “tithe”). You could put Pagan, Buddha, Wicca, Atheist and it would still work.

What is the Kingdom paradigm around financial resources? What is truth? Why is it important?

A good Christmas story

At Christmas time men and women everywhere gather in their churches to wonder anew at the greatest miracle the world has ever known. But the story I like best to recall was not a miracle — not exactly. It happened to a pastor who was very young but his church was very old.

Once long ago it had flourished. Famous men had preached from its pulpit and prayed before its altar. Rich and poor alike had worshipped there and built it beautifully. Now the good days had passed from the section of town where it stood. But the pastor and his young wife believed in their run-down church. They felt that with paint, hammer, and faith they could get it in shape. Together they went to work.

However late in December a severe storm whipped through the river valley and the worst blow fell on the little church — a huge chunk of rain-soaked plaster fell out of the inside wall just behind the altar. Sorrowfully the pastor and his wife swept away the mess but they couldn’t hide the ragged hole. The pastor looked at it and had to remind himself quickly, “Thy will be done!” But his wife wept, “Christmas is only two days away!”

That afternoon the dispirited couple attended an auction held for the benefit of a youth group. The auctioneer opened a box and shook out of its folds a handsome gold and ivory lace tablecloth. It was a magnificent item, nearly 15 feet long; but it, too, dated from a long vanished era. Who, today, had any use for such a thing?

There were a few halfhearted bids. Then the pastor was seized with what he thought was a great idea. He bid it in for $6.50. He carried the cloth back to the church and tacked it up on the wall behind the altar. It completely hid the hole! And the extraordinary beauty of its shimmering handwork cast a fine, holiday glow over the chancel. It was a great triumph. Happily he went back to preparing his Christmas sermon.

Just before noon on the day of Christmas Eve as the pastor was opening the church, he noticed a woman standing in the cold at the bus stop. “The bus won’t be here for 40 minutes!” he called and invited her into the church to get warm. She told him that she had come from the city that morning to be interviewed for a job as governess to the children of one of the wealthy families in town but she had been turned down. A war refugee, her English was imperfect.

The woman sat down in a pew and chafed her hands and rested. After a while she dropped her head and prayed. She looked up as the pastor began to adjust the great gold and ivory cloth across the hole. She rose suddenly and walked up the steps of the chancel. She looked at the tablecloth. The pastor smiled and started to tell her about the storm damage but she didn’t seem to listen. She took up a fold of the cloth and rubbed it between her fingers. “It is mine!” she said. “It is my banquet cloth!” She lifted up a corner and showed the surprised pastor that there were initials monogrammed on it. “My husband had the cloth made especially for me in Brussels! There could not be another like it.”

For the next few minutes the woman and the pastor talked excitedly together. She explained that she was Viennese and that she and her husband had opposed the Nazis and decided to leave the country. They were advised to go separately. Her husband put her on a train for Switzerland. They planned that he would join her as soon as he could arrange to ship their household goods across the border. She never saw him again. Later she heard that he had died in a concentration camp. “I have always felt that it was my fault — to leave without him,” she said. “Perhaps these years of wandering have been my punishment!” The pastor tried to comfort her and urged her to take the cloth with her. She refused. Then she went away.

As the church began to fill on Christmas Eve, it was clear that the cloth was going to be a great success. It had been skillfully designed to look its best by candlelight. After the service, the pastor stood at the doorway. Many people told him that the church looked beautiful. One gentle-faced middle-aged man — he was the local clock-and-watch repairman — looked rather puzzled. “It is strange,” he said in his soft accent. “Many years ago my wife — God rest her — and I owned such a cloth. In our home in Vienna, my wife put it on the table” — and here he smiled — “only when the bishop came to dinner.”

The pastor suddenly became very excited. He told the jeweler about the woman who had been in church earlier that day. The startled jeweler clutched the pastor’s arm. “Can it be? Does she live?”

Together the two got in touch with the family who had interviewed her. Then in the pastor’s car they started for the city. And as Christmas Day was born, this man and his wife who had been separated through so many saddened Yule tides were reunited.

To all who hear this story, the joyful purpose of the storm that had knocked a hole in the wall of the church was now quite clear. Of course, people said it was a miracle; but I think you will agree it was the season for it!

 

Attributed to Pastor Rob Reid, Readers Digest 1954

Preaching/Pontification

General observations on “preaching”.From “The 4 Hour Workweek” by Timothy Ferriss

“Develop the habit of asking yourself, “Will I definitely use this information for something immediate and important?” It’s not enough to use information for “something” – it needs to be immediate and important. If “no” on either count, don’t consume it. Information is useless if it is not applied to something important or if you will forget it before you have a change to apply it.
I used to have the habit of reading a book or site to prepare for an event weeks or months in the future, and I would then need to reread the same material when the deadline for action was closer. This is stupid and redundant. Follow your to-day short list and fill in the information gaps as you go.”
I think that this may be the question every “preacher” needs to ask prior to pontificating. Of course only the Holy Spirit can truly guide you into what information is immediate and important in any situation. However I truly believe that most sermons could be cut by 75% without loosing effect.  Now this is not to say that there are not appropriate occasions for sermons/teachings/pontifications of length.  However, I believe they are far less than most imagine.

I recently heard of an instance where a recent acquaintance requested, nay demanded, a full accounting from a follower of Jesus on what they had to say and how they might press the issue of Jesus’ messiahship.  Thankfully the Jesus follower responded only what the Holy Spirit wanted them to say (I believe).  They simply said “Jesus likes you”.  The requester person was incensed but promptly broke down in wailing and tears and over a period of several months came to be a follower of Jesus also.

“It is vain to do with more what can be done with less.” William of Occam

Financial Truth ?

What I am saying is: Is that all there is that the Church has to offer? — The wisdom of the world?

I believe that both ends of the picture are adulterations of the Kingdom of God — neither the “Word of Faith” or “the Word of the World” is gospel. The Word of Faith people have some good points and the Dave Ramsey/Susie Orman people also have som e excellent points. But I want the truth of the Kingdom not that the way of the world or flesh or religion.

So what is the gospel/good news about our finances? I haven’t heard it yet but I do know that Papa has a better way.