Joshua 1:2 Moses my servant is dead. Now then you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan river into the land I am about to give them--- to the Israelites.

The death of Moses, and the crossing of the Jordan signifies a transition from one way of life into another.  The leadership of Moses brought the people this far--right up to the edge of destiny.  The law can bring us to the edge, but lacks the ability to bring us into destiny.  The law reveals our express need for Christ.  Christ brings us up into him and fulfills the destiny of The Father on earth through the vehicle of the church- his body, a fellowship, a community of believers.  

Up to this point, the Israelite community wasn't established.  For a community to be an establishment, there must be territory given.  That territory, the land God promised to Abraham had been waiting for the sons of Israel to overthrow the existing occupants and take hold of the land.  Because they couldn't believe what God said to them concerning the promise, though confirmed with signs and wonders, they wandered without territory empty of the promise.  Although they were delivered from the land of slavery, they remained slaves in the desert, and longed to return to the land of slavery instead of the land of promise.  Slaves inherit nothing, sons inherit the promise of father.

I feel like the dream Bob had of passing through the revival and crossing a line 3 times into something new and established finds some meaning in the Joshua text.  The dream given 3 times signifies 3 years. 2 Cor. 13:1-2 This will be my third visit to you. "Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witness."

The line in the dream is a type of Jordan I think we are going to be called to cross in the remaining seasons. 

As the sons of Israel crossed the Jordan, they enter into a land where community will take on a whole new expression.  Tribe by tribe they are given land and become an established people governing cities of their own.  The fulfillment of the promise has come.  The people who could satisfy the promise finally stepped onto the land.  It wasn't the promised land to nations living there although were in the land.  I feel like we are going to come into a territory in September a land of our own a place of our own.  Our expression of community is going to take on a whole new expression on the other side.  A building and land are not essential for us to be us, but a testimony to God's goodness and faithfulness.        

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6 NIV)
If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV)
I feel like The Lord is going to build on the seasonal theme of prayer and faith when we move into the season of love. As the prayer season comes to a close, the Lord spoke to us about faith in prayer to speak to the mountains that stand in the way of the building of the temple. He also has spoken about the City of our God, Mount Zion, in the context of living our days to establish that city in our families in Charlotte.
Prayer without faith engagement is not really prayer at all. We must pray with faith. In Mark 11:22, Jesus tells us to have faith in God in the contexts of prayer. Just like love needs to be mixed into prayer in order to bring the kingdom to the earth, so love has to have the same depth of involvement and mixture in our faith-faith expressing itself through love.
I feel like revelation of love, specifically that enhances faith is coming. Love filled faith produces a praying people that speaks to mountains and watches them move. The temple, the King's people, the Jesus people will have an increased presence in the earth when mountains of resistance are moved out of the way with shouts of grace! grace!

.so that the genuineness of your faith—more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 1:6-9

Not everything that is refined by fire stands the test of time. Gold although refined by fire still perishes. Gold doesn't have lasting eternal value like our faith does. When our lives are touched by fire, our fire tested faith results in a life that worships. The life the possesses genuine proven faith produces praise, glory and honor to God. The faith that worships is the faith that results in salvation. It is interesting that the testing of faith produces praise, glory, and honor come at the revelation of Jesus. Fiery trail in worship out. After which Peter explains that these saints love Jesus although they have never seen Him. They believe in Him and Rejoice with Joy that taps out the depths of human expression. These saints must have seen something. They are receiving the goal of their faith which is the salvation of their souls. When we are not seeing God by way of revelation, we are receiving something that breaths life into our emotions.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5:6 NIV)

If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2 NIV)

I feel like The Lord is going to build on the seasonal theme of prayer and faith when we move into the season of love. In the last month of our seasonal focus of prayer and building the altar of worship, the Lord spoke to us about faith in prayer to speak to the mountains that stand in the way of the building of the temple. He also has spoken about the City of our God, Mount Zion, in the context of living our days to establish that city in our families in Charlotte through vocalizing praise. And mountains that protect us like the mountains around Jerusalem Ps.125

Prayer that goes up without faith is not really prayer at all. We must pray with faith. Faith in God is the main ingredient of our prayers. We must come to him believing he exists and rewards our diligent search for Him. In Mark 11:22, Jesus tells us to have faith in God in the contexts of prayer. 

Just like faith needs to be mixed into prayer in order to bring the kingdom to the earth, so love has to be mixed into our faith. The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love. If I have faith to move mountains, but don't have love, I am nothing. We want to be something. God wants us to be something, so lets have love added to the mountain moving faith He is establishing in our prayer lives. 
I feel like revelation of love, specifically that enhances faith is coming.  Faith fortified with love produces a praying people that speaks to mountains and watches them move. The temple, the King's people, the Jesus people will have an increased presence in the earth when mountains of resistance are moved out of the way with shouts of grace! Grace! As we see Mount Zion start to form in the horizon of this work. I feel like the Lord is going to add a depth of love to us for an assignment in prayer a year from now as we visit this prayer season again. We will have been strengthened in loving faithful prayer.

1 Thess 1:2 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. 
1 Cor. 13:13 And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

The life of faith Jesus demonstrated was the result of a deep seated love for humanity. He loved us and gave Himself up for us. All his labor was prompted by love. He loves 100%. 100% of the time. As Graham Cooke says, "He just can't be anything else. It is just what he is like." 

 We need faith infused prayers and love infused faith, and community building love. We need to have multiple encounters daily of this fantastic love. Love that empowers us to be inconvenienced, but not really, because we love and have been deeply loved. We need to be infused with all the character attributes of love. Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it doesn't boast, It is not proud. It is not rude. It is not self-seeking, It is not easily angered it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, It always protects, always trust, always hopes, always perseveres, Love never fails.

Today in church Ps. 23 came out in reading and in a prophetic song. John 10 He is the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep because he cares.  The revelation of love begins. 

6/18/2014

The revealing of Jesus Christ calls the lives of those who see Him into radical obedience. When God unveils aspects of his nature to humanity, that encounter alters the identify of all those who have been exposed to such a sight. Before obedience can occur, God always reveals himself to a people. His revealing of Himself empowers those who have become awestruck to do the impossible. This happens to an individual person or to a nation through a man with a revelation. Seeing him empowers obedience.  We all have seen him in some degree or another. What act of obedience has that revelation produced?  How well do you see him? Do you see him as he really is or do you see him as our world or experience has defined him. The level of obedience depends on the level of revelation. Before we can do the thing obedience requires of us, we must first hear him and not our imagination of him. Obedience really means to hear. Once we hear clearly, the right action can be carried out. Remember who it is who is speaking. Seeing him and hearing him directs our life into our destiny. My sheep hear my voice. Oh the joy in life to know I am where I am doing what I am doing because I have seen him and I have heard him and I know him and he knows me! Life is not random. My life has purpose. God loves me and loves to show himself strong to me. Oh the confidence in life to know the path I am on is lead by the shepherd!

Tuesday morning I was considering briefly the life of Moses. He had such weakness to really come into his destiny. He didn't know what to do with what was in his heart. His efforts wouldn't come close to the deliverance power needed to perform 10 miraculous signs. The word weakness is a key word. Immediately, Romans 8 came to mind... “the Spirit helps us in our weakness, we do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans to deep for words.” Such confidence of the Spirit's help was being pumped into my heart. I thought of Hebrews 11 “Whose weakness was turned to strength.” these thoughts lead me into a conversation around 2Cor. 11-13. The theme of strength being made perfect in weakness.

Then I read 2 Cor 13:1 This will be my third visit to you. “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witness.”

Paul is using this text from Deuteronomy to firmly establish the word in the Corinthian churches. They will either obey or they will not. The testimony has been established in two ways. First, Paul's obedience to bring the word which will establish them if they are obedient to the word. Paul brought the culture of the kingdom not merely a word spoken, but a life lived out in front of them. Secondly, a mere length of time being exposed to the word has elapsed. The word is now established.

For the King's People September will mark the beginning of the 4^th year of our run through the cycle of seasons. The witness of 3 years and 4 seasons each has elapsed. The word of the King's people has been established. It has been established by sheer passage of time and our faithful obedience to the revelation of the 4 season. It would be hard for us to think differently now. Every season has not reached it's full maturity in expression, but it is established, the witnesses have confirmed we are guilty of being The King's People, who have become a certain expression of the church concerned for the ultimate plan of the King-the summing up of all things under Christ.

I feel there is going to be an increase of specific revelation in the upcoming seasons. The Lord has built a framework in which he can speak to us about things on His heart. Seasonal themes will flow into each other and cause momentum to build. From now on I feel revelation will be given in each season which will grant us an assignment of obedience to build this work. Revelation establishes radical obedience. It's coming.   

So this week I realized it only takes one or two minor hiccups in the rhythm of my day to challenge the delicate nature of my resident peace. Bless me, I have a lot of days to turn this delicate peace into an immoveable mighty fortress of peace because most days have more than two hiccups.
As I was driving to work a few days ago I was under mind numbing spell as it seemed. Thoughts, clearly not my own, would flutter through my mind depositing a subtle impression of hopelessness towards just about everything I had hope in. Then the veil lifted for a second and off in some swamp was an ugly troll of a lie monster spewing out lies at a tireless pace. I was really bugged at the deception which accompanied these darting lies because they so easily found acceptance in my mind. My simple and subtle agreement of these lies produced the spell I found myself in.

I ask the Lord for a stainless steel heart.
I stopped.
Did I just say that?

I don't want a hardened heart, but I want a heart that is resistant to the erosion of faith that lies seem to cause. So I thought of things made of stainless steel. The sheer nature of stainless steel possess a DNA structure that has a built in resistance to the corrosive and erosive elements in our environment.

I have something much better than the DNA properties of stainless steel. I am born of an incorruptible seed which possess the Divine Nature.

Christ is Our Peace

"For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace." (Ephesians 2:14-15, NKJV)

The Prince of Peace is one of the many titles given to our Savior, Redeemer, King Jesus; for He is the Reconciler, who has rended the veil between man and God, bringing peace between us and The Father and giving us free access to Him.  By God's grace we have been saved, being born of the Kingdom and co-heirs with Christ.  These are things that He has accomplished: things of which He dreamed long before the world began; and the summing of those things are IN CHRIST.  This verse above is part of that summing up: that In Him there is neither Jew nor Gentile, but one new man, who was created In Christ when He broke down the middle wall of separation, abolishing the enmity and making it possible for God to dwell in us: we are residencies of the Spirit.


One new man.  An entirely different breed of people.  This was His plan from the beginning: to have people who carry the presence of God; who strive to let the Holy Spirit be fully Himself within them; and who have a radically intimate relationship with the Father, free of the anxieties this world and its people possess; able to see from new heights in the Spirit.  These are the new Jesus People.  And all this because of Him who brought peace and whose rule in our lives is one of peace, in place of the chaos we see all around us.

Holy Spirit Permeation

          I declare that I am permeated with the Holy Spirit.  Just as I once possessed a sinful nature that so dominated me and dictated who I was, and which was rotten through and through with every type of corruption, infinitely moreso is my life now dominated and dictated by the Holy spirit. And since Christ is supreme, EVERY part, EVERY area that constitutes Thomas Goodwin is whole and filled through and through with the Spirit.  Everything that is Thomas has been soaked and is completely permeated by the Holy Spirit.

          Paul says in Ephesians 5:18b "...let the Holy Spirit fill and control you."  Paul goes on to say that the result or the evidence of letting the Holy Spirit fill and control is singing songs, hymns and spiritual songs.  Speaking, which includes singing, is evidence of a Spirit filled life.  And not just any speaking, of course.  You speak Spirit-inspired words that constitute the language of the Kingdom of God.  A language filled with substance and prophetic unction.

          There is a learning (and possibly an unlearning) that happens when you are being taught the language of the Spirit, which by the way, is not only tongues.  As you are put in various situations, your actions, especially your words, become Holy Ghost tempered and Biblically justified.  But they become more than just Biblically justified, they become Biblically founded.  As you continue to chew on God's Word and experience the reality of Christ in His resurrection AND His ascension, you will discover that the foundation of your very selfhood is the Word.  In fact, it will constitute your identity.

          As Dr. Brown said, "We try to go through the day without leaving God out instead of having Him as the foundation of who we are."  THAT is deeper.  We should no longer wear our faith like apparel.  Jesus inhabits our very being, and His will is that our words, actions, and thoughts all flow from a place of rest in Him.  Our dispositions and even our complexions should reflect a deep, unshakable assurance of a place prepared by God for His faithful PEOPLE.

          To Him who is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega, the Amen who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands, may the full reward of His suffering be given.  And to God, His Father and ours, be Glory, Honor, and Power forever.  Selah.


 MAY HIS SHALOM BE KNOWN AMONG HIS PEOPLE...THE KING'S PEOPLE!!!


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