This teaching is free. I suggest downloading it and listening to it immediately. Let’s all live from heaven’s perspective, shall we? This way we can truly bring HEAVEN to earth. (See the Lord’s prayer in the book of Matthew chapter 6 verses 9-13)
http://www.brilliantbookhouse.com/mp3s/the-recession-buster-mp3s.html/
I moved. On the winds of books and furniture, pots and clothing, I was swept from a house to an apartment. On Friday, in a series of many back-and-forths, I moved. Now, I am unpacking. Today my books came out to play.
Despite the fact that I sold about one hundred books when I moved to Redding almost two years ago, I still have hundreds of books. I love them. Like some people love eye crinkles because they are distinguishing, or my seminary friend Lizzie loves scar stories because they are, in a sense, personally historic; I love books because they held my hand through valleys, across rivers, and around tight bends. In the dark of night we’ve talked: conversations which shaped me significantly. And now, I am asking my books to inhale deeply so I can squeeze them onto a tall bookshelf a friend gave me a few days ago.
I was thinking while situating my booklings. I was thinking about education, about the foundations God builds in our lives, and particularly about my own education. Here I am nearly done with my third Master’s Degree; living in Northern California; financially stretched; doing a research job part-time; applying and waiting for more jobs; and preparing to semi-move to Baghdad, Iraq after May 2012. There is a lot of mystery, but today I laughed remembering a prophetic word I received when I was 18 years old, “You will get countless degrees.” At the time I had taken a year off between high school and university, a decision I got an overwhelming amount of flak for. I have always heard God’s leading clearly with regard to education. There has been no uncertainty in where I went to school or when I went there. And so, today, I’m 31, and my black bookshelf, a plump Santa Claus whose tummy of books jiggles when he laughs, is testimony to my journey past and my journey future. God and I have built a foundation, through countless hours immersed in theology in the seminary library basement to long nights grueling over Palestinian political parties in my tiny Jerusalem bedroom, through cold winters in Massachusetts to hot summers in Israel, we have built, and built, and built.
The last floor we’ve completed, but certainly not the last one to be built, is the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry floor. Two years of studying revivalists and revivals, experiencing more and more of the Holy Spirit, and daring to think world-changing thoughts with world-changing people.
Revelation in many aspects is the crown of my education. And this gives me a freedom and a power far beyond academia.
This uses the fuel in my tank and adds 200 mile per hour driving skills. This makes me ready.
Madeleine L’Engle articulates the relationship between the intellect and revelation in her book “Walking on Water”
“not to set aside or discard the intellect, but to understand that it is not to become a dictator,
for when it does we are closed off from revelation.”
Onward! Into the book!
Not only did the metaphorical key work in this lock, the lock of book reading, but inside this house are billions of rooms for me to explore and play in. The front room had the pillows from my bed when I was seven. The kitchen had the orange tiles from the kitchen of my family’s first house. There was even a weeping willow tree in one room – the same tree in my parents’ yard now. The windows were huge. I could see the Tigris River from most of them.
Page after page Holy Spirit poured truckloads of Legos, Lincoln Logs, and wooden blocks into my hands, around my cross-legged posture; building materials from heaven getting caught in my hair like ribbons, on my eyelashes like snowflakes, and on my feet like glory freckles. God pushed me on a gigantic swing, up through the clouds. I laughed and giggled with delirious joy.
There is something about transforming nations that melts me through-and-through.
All my life this has been the case. When the Holy Spirit talks about bringing nations into wholeness, I get carbonated and shaken, ready to explode.
AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
(Please read this book.)
This is why I read this whole book today. These ideas are precisely what I have been thinking about with more detail and contemplation than ever this last year of ministry school – particularly since March 23 when I was invited to work in Baghdad, Iraq – which I am planning to do after May 2012. I’m learning economic principles as I pray for the Iraqi Dinar to be revalued. I’m watching films on Iraq, learning more about the current war. There is a map of Iraq on my wall and a wooden carving of Iraq on my desk – a precious gift a friend brought me from Iraq. On the top shelf of my closet are 12 paintings for leaders in Iraq – gifts I am planning to hand deliver this fall when I visit Baghdad. And in every crease in my hands as I play guitar, there is hope for Iraq.
I believe Jesus’ words, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)
He wanted His Father’s kingdom to cover the earth. So do I.
I want every single nation to be alive and flourishing. For too long the church has focused too much on the return of Jesus and thus expected Him to bring that reality with Him. He will bring that reality 100% with Him. Until then WE are supposed to be moving toward that reality by making “disciples of all nations.” (Matthew 28:19) Not IN all nations, not merely individuals following Jesus in every nation. Yes, we want that, but ultimately we want WHOLE nations to follow Jesus. We want NATIONS to be discipled. Can you imagine? A whole nation? A whole government devoted to God? Every area of society devoted to the King and His glory?
hahahahahahahahaha! (The delirium is setting in again. I get positively drunk on Jesus thinking about it!)
It’s going to be beautiful beyond anything we’ve ever seen when nations are head-over-heels in love with Jesus!
And this is what this book is heralding: a generation of people with reformers’ hearts and a vision to TRANSFORM nations!
Here are some significant excerpts from The Reformation Manifesto:
“We need to care for our nations like Jesus cares for them. He loves the nations of the earth – He created them! God cares that people are hungry, that babies are being aborted. Not only that, but on the macro level, He has the answers to systemic poverty, the AIDS epidemic, and other massive, mind-boggling problems. He wants to involve each of us in creating solutions and will show us what we need to do to be reformers and revolutionaries in our society.” (36)
“Fear cripples innovators. While we all may deal with it at times, as those called to be world changers we can’t let it stop us. We have to be willing always to speak the truth in love and stand up for the biblical convictions God has put in our hearts.” (60)
“Jesus wasn’t looking for converts to a new religion; He was inviting people into a new kingdom, with a new government and a new King. He was inviting people to live heaven on earth.” (63)
“Another example is Almolonga, Guatemala. Almolonga was a disaster area at one time. Alcoholism was rampant,a nd it was a center of idolatry. The indigenous people of the village were in despair. Few had more than a sixth-grade education. Then a few brave souls got a hold of God’s Word and took on the process of the spiritual transformation of the area.
One of the miraculous signs that the city was changing was in the land itself. Once dry and unyielding, it became fertile and started to produce giant vegetables. I have been there myself, and all I have to say is whenever the tourists want to get their pictures taken holding the broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots, you know they are huge!
The villagers started selling their vegetables all across Central America and became wealthy enough to afford to buy – for cash – Mercedes trucks to haul their produce! The jail shut down and became a restaurant. The idol worship center closed down because of lack of participants. Ninety-five percent of the population is now born again!
As you drive through Almolonga today, you see street signs with names like Glory to God. Mike and I know some of the leaders of that movement, and they are genuine and wonderful believers. What is happening in Almolonga gives us great hope for what can take place elsewhere if we would just apply prayerfully the principles of God’s Word as the foundation for our societies.” (76-77)
“God has a plan for the nations; we need to care enough to find out what it is.” (100)
“one quality I have found to be a hallmark of reformers – perseverance. Sometimes we think we need a massive amount of faith to function as change agents; however, I am convinced that faith comes to the faithful. While ‘the just shall live by faith’ was the cornerstone verse of Luther’s Reformation, to me, that means ‘the just shall live by faithfulness.’ Great faith is best exemplified by the simple act of getting out of bed every morning and obeying God no matter how our bodies feel, what emotions we are battling, or what people are saying about us. The great reformers – Wilberforce among them – kept going even though they were terribly tempted to quit at times.” (140-141)
“In fact, the last letter written by John Wesley, in 1791, was to Wilberforce, supporting his anti-slavery campaign. Here is a portion of the letter the famous revivalist wrote to encourage Wilberforce:
‘Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils; but if God is with you , who can against you? Are all of them stronger than God? Oh, be not weary in well doing. Go on, in the name of God and int he power of His might, till even American slavery, the vilest that ever saw the sun, shall vanish away before it. That he who has guided you from youth up, may continue to strengthen you in this and in all things, is the prayer of
dear Sir, your affectionate servant
John Wesley (24 February 1791) ‘”
(142)
“We as Christians also know that scarcity began with the curse of poverty that was released by the fall. However, Jesus paid the price to redeem us from the fall, so we have been delivered from the curse of scarcity into abundance. Abundance is the antonym (or opposite) of scarcity. Thus we live according to a new principle in Christ: ‘Everything in our lives and the society we represent should produce increasing abundance.’”
(165)
“I believe it is possible to see the kingdom of God so manifested in a nation that there is no need for a welfare system at all – especially for any believer!”
(175)
“The Creator has not run out of ideas or solutions, and there are people whom God has especially gifted with the ability to tap into supernatural intelligence to start the reversal of the Genesis curse. God will help us to ‘steward the house’ by releasing His anointing to give supernatural solutions.
This will be done by those who have their minds renewed through God and receive the calling of God to be economists. A mind anointed by God sees things through the belief that there is nothing impossible to God. A challenge is only an opportunity to see the power of God move in a supernatural way.”
(176)
“The good news is that a new generation of Josephs, whom God has anointed to be monetary scientists, will connect with the Daniels – God’s political scientists – and work together to change the earth.”
(179)
“While most evangelicals still keep the light of Jesus Christ bright in the area of preaching salvation, many no longer see it as their Christian duty to extend that saving grace beyond the four walls of their church. For the most part they opted out of the civil rights movement, remained silent about domestic abuse, and rushed to the suburbs.”
(203)
“Another area in which the church could help is adoption. On July 7, 2007, a Youth Prayer Day was held here in the United States called The Call Nashville. One of the speakers challenged people to be willing to adopt children who were born to mothers who are involved in drug abuse.”
(204)
“Here are some things you can do to make a difference:
1. Ask God whom you can personally help.
2. Don’t be silent when things are wrong and you see God’s laws broken in your culture.
3. The world will try to conform you to its pattern – don’t let it!
4. Study God’s Word diligently and regularly.”
(205)
“The call to become a reformer is about living your life each and every day in a way that God’s will is done ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’”
(211)
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Trade Unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”
(Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 213)
(Rod Parsley, 213)
Dreaming of levitating at a curious poster of "L" words in China
More of Natsumi’s ingenious photos here: http://yowayowacamera.com/
“The person with the most hope
has the most influence.”
- unknown
Each shirt is $20, but if you buy one by Wednesday, June 1 you get 10% off by using this coupon code: ISAIAH668
You can also save money per shirt by buying TEN SHIRTS for $180, which saves $2 per shirt. So, if you have a group of friends, a class, a church, a prayer group, a book club, etc who want to support the HOPE Revolution for Iraq, it’s a beautiful opportunity to do so!
I’m planning to visit Baghdad this October in preparation for semi-moving there some time in 2012. These shirts are raising money for that trip. I want to be part of rebuilding the nation and filling Iraq with OUTRAGEOUS HOPE. Things are not what they seem. Beneath the ground is a well of hope churning and stirring to explode across the land. I am drawing together a momentum of people who will stand with me and with heaven and declare, “I LOVE BAGHDAD WITH OUTRAGEOUS HOPE.” Take your heart off the “news”, the dread, the negative expectations, and dare to believe for Iraq’s flourishing. There’s nothing special or helpful or loving about believing for a negative outcome, THE PERSON WITH THE MOST HOPE HAS THE MOST INFLUENCE. If we are going to transform the world, we’ve got to stop looking at the physical and obvious, and tap into heaven’s plans for nations. God LOVES the nations. And through Him we have the ability to BRING HEAVEN TO EARTH, like Jesus prayed in the Lord’s prayer, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.”
Also, I need your help selling these shirts. Would you help publicize these shirts and the HOPE movement for Iraq by sharing the link below via email, facebook, twitter, blogs, personal websites, word of mouth, etc? THANK YOU!
In the midst of the hubbub about Israel and Palestine, there is a melody – a melody of hope, peace, and purpose. Bethlehem was called by name as a city of promise in Micah 5. Bethlehem is now in the Palestinian Territories, a place I love wholeheartedly – a people beautiful and important. In Isaiah 9 it says the Lord’s government will be ever-increasing. I believe there is a plan for peace in the Middle East. In heaven in a file cabinet, there is a plan. And it is so full of love it would dumbfound even the most compassionate human being. Two years ago I was thinking about all this me-lee, this confusion and unrest. I was living in Bethlehem, surrounded by a thirty-foot concrete wall and checkpoints. And I was declaring Bethlehem’s true identity to be re-established. From those thoughts came the following song, sung on a balcony in the Bethlehem area. He WILL be their peace.
- Graham Cooke
- me, in response to a compliment about my earrings with hot air balloons on them
- Nick Moon, in response to the blank looks of the people I’d just spoken to
- Jesus (Revelation 4:1), in response to John as he gazes at an OPEN door in heaven
Angels are our friends.
I’ve been thinking for some time about writing about seeing in the Spirit. I realize it’s an area a lot of believers don’t know much about or they are bewildered by. In actuality seeing in the Spirit is very powerful and useful. We are spirit more than we are flesh. Our citizenship is in heaven so, it’s contents should be familiar to us. My experience in seeing the unseen began, as far as I remember, with seeing demons when I was seven years old. There was no need to convince me of the reality of the unseen realms. It was more real than my matching set of bedroom furniture or my white York stereo I loved so much. From there I eventually saw other things: objects, images, and angels. It all seemed very logical and common to me. And it was handy when I’d be in a new neighborhood and I could see what was happening in the spirit: I knew how to pray and also more of how to interact with people there.
I don’t see all the time. I’ve learned to turn it off and on. This isn’t always my choice, granted – a lot of the time I start seeing into the angelic realm without warning. However, when I lived in Israel I would often engage that part of my senses when in a new place or when in a place that suddenly became chaotic or foreboding. On the other hand, in ministry school I usually don’t look to see in the spirit because it distracts me from the speaker’s teaching. There was a time a month or so ago when someone was speaking at school and I saw a company of angels behind him on the stage with raspberry-hued air around them. They were coming out into the crowd with white wedding favor bags in their hands. I was in awe; and intrigued. I heard Holy Spirit say, “Look up Latvia’s flag.” Later that day I did. Amazingly, the flag is that same raspberry color with a white horizontal stripe in the middle (at the same height as the white wedding favor bags). I instantly knew what it meant: my class was being invited to the wedding of Latvia and Jesus! We were invited to celebrate! The man who spoke that day has connections to Latvia. Thereafter I emailed him to let him know what I had seen. He was grateful I shared it and encouraged.
So, last week I did a ten-minute free write on seeing in my writing class. I thought I’d share it here.
As you read it, ask God to open your eyes like Gehazi’s in 2 Kings 6:17. “And Elisha prayed, ‘O LORD, open his eyes so he may see.’ Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.” Awaken your senses to the unseen realm. Begin to posture yourself regularly with a willingness and openness to see in the spirit. God wants to reveal to you the unseen things. He also wants you to want to see them.
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Seeing is incredible. IN-CRED-IBLE, as in, almost unbelievable. And this is where faith ascends in to true belief – into the realms of the unseen. Jump over the wall of incredibility into the fields of reality. Jump. In the openness of the greatness of God is an expanse of freedom and partnership and co-reigning beyond what one could ever fathom. Everything on earth has a spiritual reality first: a stapler, a chair, a refrigerator, and even an IPAD. These pulsate with heaven’s attainability and do-ability. It is doable. The realm of revelation is a place for grasping the unseen.
It is particularly useful to see when you are in a new place – when you are overseas walking unknown neighborhoods and you have no natural awareness of issues in the neighborhood. Seeing will reveal.
I should intentionally ask for my seeing to increase. I should learn to navigate its waters more fully.
As I ponder this I realize there is an element of trepidation. I am a bit afraid of falling off the earth. I am a bit concerned about being swooped into heaven to such a degree I can no longer interact on earth. I am a bit flummoxed in thinking I might become unavoidably strange. A price worth paying for the rapturous union with God and heaven. Worth. I chase worth and blink at worth when I see. I choose to acknowledge and look into things unseen to better understand the realms of heaven, to better understand the lover of my soul. I swing on a rope swing over a gentle river and I drop in. I sink to the earth’s center and I see things that Hollywood’s up and coming film-makers dream of putting on screen. I taste life. My life is spiced with divinity and saturated in Truth. I’m addicted. MMM…. This is much of the drive to see, the addiction to Truth. I have to have it. There is nothing else. A newspaper or the news itself, a picture of an apple or the apple itself. A poem about love or LOVE itself. A book about Jesus or Jesus Himself.
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Here are some resources on seeing:
http://www.amazon.com/Modern-Seer-biblical-todays-context/dp/0982282109/ref=pd_sim_b_5
http://www.amazon.com/School-Seers-Practical-Guide-Unseen/dp/0768431018/ref=pd_sim_b_2
http://www.amazon.com/Angelic-Encounters-James-W-Goll/dp/1599790653/ref=pd_sim_b_10
http://www.amazon.com/Open-Eyes-Lord-Visitations-Experiences/dp/0975262203/ref=pd_sim_b_13
(And for those who are itching to hear that original US army jingle,
here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXc7veG9-b8 )
