This is how I fight my battles… that song jumped out at me one Sunday morning a few weeks back. Are you familiar with the lyrics? They are:
This is how I fight my battles; this is how I fight my battles….
It may look like I’m surrounded but I’m surrounded by You, it may look like I’m surrounded but I’m surrounded by You… This is how I fight my battles…                                                            (you can listen to the song here)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlBiE4dXT2I

Very simple but profound words and I immediately got an image and verses. In 2 Kings Chapter 6 the song above is exactly described, but first some back story. The king of Aram was enraged over someone giving Israel a “heads up” about his attacks against them. He was informed that the prophet (Elisha) was telling the king of Israel the words that the king of Aram was speaking in his bedroom. So, now they are coming after Elisha.
Picking up in 2 Kings 6:13 it says, “So he (the king) said, ‘Go and see where he (Elisha) is, that I may send and take him.’ And it was told him, saying, ‘Behold, he is in Dothan.’ He sent horses and chariot and a great army there and they came by night and surrounded the city.”
“Now when the attendant of the man of God (Elisha) had risen early and gone out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was circling the city. And his servant said to him, ‘Alas my master! What shall we do?’ So he answered, ‘Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.’ Then Elisha prayed and said, ‘O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the servant’s eyes and he saw; and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. When they (the soldiers) came down to him, Elisha prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Strike this people with blindness, I pray.’ So He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.”
If you want to read the rest of this account, read 2 Kings 6:13-23. Basically, Elisha leads the blind enemy army to Samaria and right to the king of Israel. They feed them, and then released them to return home and it says they didn’t attack again. (God’s ways are not our ways, right?)
To me, this is what the song above depicts. “This is how I fight my battles…it may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You.”
What do we see when we come across attacks or obstacles? Do we see the enemy armies? Do we see God’s provisions? It’s important that we ask ourselves that question because it affects everything about our lives on a daily basis. What we see in front of us is what we will respond to. Where we believe we are going will affect the choices we make every day.
Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish…” (KJV). The word vision in the Hebrew means: a sight (mentally), i.e. a dream, revelation or oracle and comes from the root to gaze at; mentally, to perceive, contemplate (with pleasure), to have a vision of, behold, look, prophecy, provide, see.
Do we know where we are going? It’s really important to see and then believe the Lord for His direction and then His provisions. Without that vision it says “the people perish”. Here is what perish means in the Hebrew: to loosen, to expose, dismiss, figuratively absolve, go back, set at naught.
I looked up absolve in the Webster Dictionary from 1828 as I didn’t see how that word fit my perception of what the Lord was showing me. In ordinary language, (not formal or civil) absolve means to set free or release from engagement. That fit exactly with what I felt the Lord was showing me.
If we don’t know where the Lord is taking us, we can lose heart, grow faint, give up fighting and then loosen (or become disengaged) from where He is going.
Practically speaking, listening to the news is nothing but depressing, fear mongering words spewing out over the hearts and minds of people. Rarely is a good news story covered, it’s all just negative impressions and images being shown before our eyes. If we don’t have a balance of what God is saying, we will lose heart and think “Why try, it’s all for naught” which again is one of the meanings of perish up above…”set at naught” (Naught means nothing.)
Hosea 4:6a again, says, “…My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” And then down in verse 14b it says, “…So the people without understanding are ruined.” It’s so important that we know where we’re headed and who we’re going with, which brings me to my next point.
If you have not read the book “Victorious Eschatology” by Harold Eberle, I would highly recommend it. Here is the link:

https://www.amazon.com/Victorious-Eschatology-Dr-Harold-Eberle/dp/1953087264/ref=sr_1_1?crid=39VW6RRS9YUHJ&keywords=victorious+eschatology+by+harold+eberle&qid=1678394184&sprefix=Victorious+E%2Caps%2C120&sr=8-1

And here is another link to watch Wanda Alger share from this book. It’s very convincing, using biblical history and other ancient historians and scholars.

Again, if we don’t know what our future holds, we may have no motive for fighting against the narrative. I would be glad to talk in person to anyone who is interested in a further conversation about this.
If we don’t know where we’re going, we can’t fight the right battle. We will let circumstances present the narrative instead of God Himself. It’s my opinion that we are contending  in the Spirit for better days and the billion soul harvest that was prophesied by Bob Jones. He prophesied that when the Kansas City Chiefs won the super bowl that revival was going to come. They won in 2021, after a 50 year losing streak, interestingly enough 50 years is Jubilee.
I don’t find it coincidental that satan tried to pull out all of the stops with the plan-demic and all of the other shenanigans that has happened since. He is going to resist the move of God and God IS on the move. Then the Chief’s won again this year; Revival is breaking out all over the nation, and the Jesus Revolution movie has just been released which is stirring up the hearts of people everywhere.
Another prophet, Kim Clement prophesied 10 years ago to the month about a Jesus Revolution coming. He said, “ I see a revival, but it’s more than a revival…then later in the prophecy he said, “It’s a revolution, a Jesus Revolution.”
Here is the link if you want to watch his daughter Donne Clement share about this and other clips of his prophetic words about this time we are living in.

https://rumble.com/v2bbbcc-foc-show-the-jesus-revolution-is-10-years-in-the-making-kim-clement-donne-c.html

If this is of any comfort to you, I watched a podcast by Larry Randolph clear back in November of 2020. This was before the stolen election and all of the other stuff. He said the Lord had shown him that our nation was going to go through a “near death” experience but we would not die, but it would look like we were going to. This was before ANTHING had happened. Here is a link to that podcast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQLR5lEYTXk&t=8s

I have used prophetic teachings like this and many others that “bear witness” in my spirit to keep my focus on what is really coming instead of what “looks like “ is coming. This process is part of renewing my mind. It’s also choosing to believe by faith what we do not see instead of believing what is dancing in front of our eyes or what we are being told by those using fear mongering. That I refuse!!

• I will renew my mind with truth: Ephesians 4:23 (And be renewed in the spirit of your mind).

• I will put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him, Colossians 3:10. Guess what! The word knowledge in the Greek literally means full discernment. This goes right along with a renewed mind and heart!

• I will use my mouth to speak wisdom; Psalms 49:3a. I will quit allowing my mouth to be used to create or validate an evil agenda. Our words matter and what we partner with gives power. I have not allowed my words since January 2021 to agree with this appearance of evil nor have I allowed it to produce fear. If fear tries to settle in I say, “NO”, then I go back and remind myself of the things God has said to me.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says, “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Have you ever really thought about this verse? This is all about the mind. Speculations, lofty things raised up against God and taking thoughts captive are all in the mind. This tells you where most of our battle lies. This is the area that satan operates in most often. Fear operates in the mind and skews our perception.
Right now we are at war. Our nation is in an information war…they are trying to force a narrative of fear over people and those who listen and obey are giving their agreement to it. If you feel that you must listen to the news, only listen so you can intercede for our world at this time. Much of the news is slanted with a spirit of fear. I am keeping up with what is supposedly going on just so I can ask the Lord what His perspective is, and then I pray and agree with that. On another note, if we are spending more time listening to news than spending with the Lord and His word, then we will have self inflicted depression and “not knowing where we are going.”
• I will sow with a view to righteousness: Hosea 10:12a. The word righteousness in the Hebrew means: rightness, justice, prosperity and comes from the root “To be or make right”. We have something to do here…we don’t just sit back and say, “If it’s God’s will it’ll happen.” This scripture says, “Sow with a view to righteousness, rightness, justice. Who is doing the sowing? He is telling us to do the sowing…
2 Timothy 4:18 says, “The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Do we really believe this? I challenge each one of you to ask yourselves this question.
I have one more thing to share. The Lord keeps taking me back to the children of Israel when they left the Promised Land and ended up wandering around in the wilderness for 40 years because of their unbelief. They reacted to each circumstance they faced with fear and reacted accordingly with accusations towards Moses and lamenting that they had wanted to stay in Egypt and serve the Egyptians.
Exodus 2:23-24 reveals that this wasn’t true as it says; “Now it came about in the course of those many days that the king of Egypt died. And the sons of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry for help because of their bondage rose up to God. So, God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Then Exodus 3:9 says, “And now, (this is God speaking), behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.” (It’s interesting how your perspective changes when fear is speaking.)
As we know, that whole generation died off in the wilderness because of their unbelief and Joshua and Caleb took a new generation in, the children and grandchildren of those people who time after time allowed a fear narrative to skew their perception of the situation. Because fear was talking, they struggled to keep their faith steady and continue to believe God for His provisions. Hebrews actually describes them as not being able to enter in because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19).
Unbelief in the Greek goes back to two root words: 1. “not” and 2. “convinced”. Unbelief actually means “not convinced”. Can you imagine how this must break the Lord’s heart to not have His people convinced that He will do what He says, even if it may look, because of circumstances and the enemies deception, otherwise.
I received a word a few weeks back and the Lord showed me this whole scenario and I heard Him whisper to my heart, “This generation has the opportunity to do it right this time.”
We are getting ready to move into a kairos moment of God’s kingdom inheritance. I encourage each one of you to get before Him and ask Him where we’re going. It’s not where you think… This is NOT the time to be waiting for a rapture rescue. We have a kingdom to see come to earth and many people saved and trained to function in His kingdom. His kingdom come, His will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
We are to occupy until He returns, just like the parable Jesus taught. He has given each of us talents, Mina’s in varying amounts. He wants to see us using His gifts to manifest His justice on the earth, to overthrow the devils schemes and bring righteous justice to satan’s great injustices…and satan’s injustices are everywhere.
Again, I encourage you to read the book Victorious Eschatology. It will bring a much needed perspective shift and release you to begin the job of restoring what the enemy has broken.
I’ll end with these verses from Isaiah Chapter 61:
Vs. 1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and freedom to prisoners;
Vs. 2 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn…
Vs. 3 To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting (heaviness). So, they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.
Vs. 4 Then they (those who have been set free and healed by Him…this is US and those we bring into the kingdom and see restored) will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations and they will repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations…
Vs. 6 But you will be called the priests of the Lord; You will be spoken of as ministers of our God…
Vs. 7 Instead of your shame you will have a double portion, and instead of humiliation they will shout for joy over their portion in their land, everlasting joy will be theirs.
Vs 8 For I, the Lord, love justice… (Do you see His heart here? It’s the same heart He also wants us to have.)
Vs. 10 I will rejoice in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness…
Vs. 11 So, the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

This is our inheritance and what we are moving towards. When Christ returns, it’s not for a cowering bride that needs to be rescued because the big, bad devil is too powerful and she needs to be whisked away. NO! When Christ returns it’s for a victorious bride who has made herself ready (Rev.19:7 ) and has occupied until He returns (Luke 19:13).
Jesus told us in Matthew 24:36-37 that no one knows when Jesus will return, not even Jesus or the angels in Heaven, only God alone. We need to stop speculating and thinking that someone has been given a revelation of this. If some man knows, then this scripture isn’t true and I know all scripture is true. We have been deceived and we have been taken off track from our true focus which is Jesus and the kingdom of heaven. So again….I’ll repeat what the Lord whispered to me a few weeks back. We’ve been given the opportunity to do it right this time, we’ve been given the opportunity to believe Him and not believe what we see with our eyes. Will we?

I’ve been doing a study on the Spiritual armor. Ephesians 6:10-17 are verses most of us know. I pray through and put on these pieces of armor often but in the last few days I’ve received some deeper revelation. Let’s take a look at these verses:

“Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

“Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”

Starting at the head, let’s look at the pieces of armor. The head has the helmet of salvation. The helmet protects the head (and spiritually your mind and thoughts which is where the battlefield of the enemy really is). Your chest has the breastplate of righteousness. A breastplate covers your heart and other lungs and scripture many times references the heart as your emotions. We will even say things like, “It’s an issue of the heart” which is indicating what is felt.

When doing a study on righteousness, that word indicates several different aspects. Righteousness (G1343) literally means equity (of character or act). Character indicates who you are, and act indicates what you do, or what you stand for. Some of the other words that describe righteousness in that study are justice (the principle, a decision or execution), judgment, punish, and vengeance. Righteousness does not just sit by and watch wrong being done. Righteousness is what Jesus brought, through signs and wonders, when he encountered people who had been dealt a great injustice by the enemy.

The belt of truth is around the waist, to protect vital organs but look at what is contained within the word “truth”. Truth comes from a double root meaning “not” and “concealed”. Some of the other attributes listed in this word (adding not before each one) are to lie hid, be ignorant of and unwittingly. The aspect of truth is not being caught unawares but sees through deception with the Lord’s insight.

 But now let’s look at the feet. This is where I’ll spend the rest of my time. Ephesians 6:15 says to have your feet shod with the gospel of peace.

I had never taken a closer look at this piece of armor until I heard two sermons by Mike Thompson. (I’ll share the links at the end of this blog.) I had just envisioned the gospel of peace as sharing the good news of the gospel but not really picking up on the “peace” aspect.

 As I heard him share what the Lord was showing him my mind was swirling with revelation and I kept pausing the videos to write down thoughts as they were coming. Then yesterday I spent several hours looking up every “peace” scripture in the Bible and I wrote down the ones that spoke deeper revelation.  I will share many of these in this blog.

Looking at the feet, I realized that they do several things that are vital in our Christian walk.  We walk with our feet. Luke 1:79 is the words of Zechariah who prophesied about the birth of his son John who was later referred to as John the Baptist. This verse says, “To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Our feet take us where we purpose to go. Several of the verses I studied mentioned peace as being a way or a path to pursue. Again, until the other day I had not thought much about peace as something to pursue.  I guess I just thought peace was the end result of something else. My mindset started shifting as I began to see this.

Another scripture that references peace as a “way” is Romans 3:17-18 which says, “The way of peace they have not known and the awesomeness of God is not before their eyes.” (The Peshitta Bible which is translated from the Aramaic)

These two verses reveal that there is a way (which means road by the way) of peace and then other ways that are carnal.  Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” We have a “Y” in the road in each circumstance and we can choose the way of peace or the way or our carnal reasoning.

I won’t claim this next part as revelation I received.  Mike Thompson preached this in his two messages. I had never thought about peace in this way before.  He said, “Let’s shift our mindset to think of peace as a weapon of our warfare. Let’s take our God-given peace and stand in the face of the enemy with it.”

Back to Ephesians, 6:13-14, right in the middle of listing the armor of God, it says, “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore…”

We walk with our feet and we stand with our feet, which are supposed to be shod with peace. He (Mike Thompson) mentioned that refusing fear or anxiety or worry, or any other thing that satan tries to get you to feel and respond to, drives him nuts. He wants us to look at circumstances and get stirred up about them. He wants us to worry or fret and allow the problems and obstacles to loom large in our eyes. When we bite the hook of that behavior, God is reduced in our eyes to smaller than our circumstances. We allow our focus to shift onto the problem and we allow our faith to be sucked right out of our perspective. If we step into that cycle of processing, the devil wins that round and our faith takes a hit. If we tell our emotions to take a back seat and we step up in faith telling the devil and our circumstances that we believe in God’s faithfulness, we win the round and the devil takes the hit. More about this later…

So, our feet take us down the path and our feet are what we use to stand. I guess basically you could say they are the foundation of what we do. That makes them very important wouldn’t you say? With this understanding as our foundation, let’s take a look as some other scriptures on peace.

Psalms 34:11-14 in the Peshitta translations says, “Come, children, hear me, and I shall teach you the worship of God. Who is the man who desires life and loves to see good days? Keep your tongue from evil and your lips will not speak deceit. Pass from evil and do good, seek peace and run after it.” Run after it…. Doesn’t that speak to you?  Wow! It does me. Let’s also take a look at the work “seek”:

Seek (H1245) means to search out (by any method, specifically in worship or prayer); by implication, to strive after, ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make request), require, seek (for).

These two concepts, seek and run after do not indicate passivity.  This is intentional and deliberate. This is not the concept of just having something “fall into your lap.” This sounds to me like a passionate pursuit.

1 Peter 3:11 says something similar: “Let him move away from wickedness and let him do good; let him seek peace and run after it. Because the eyes of The Lord Jehovah are upon the righteous and his ears hear them; the face of the Lord is against the evil.” (Peshitta Translation) Again, seek peace and run after it.

I’m reminded of hide and seek that we played as kids. We would not give up until we had found those hiding. We would play in the dark, outside when we were older. I was tenacious and kept looking until I found them or they snuck their way to home-base and were safe. As adults are we this tenacious with our lives today? Why would we give more effort and attention to a game played as a kid than our spiritual life and mental state today?  It’s something to really consider as the stakes are a lot higher today than the child’s game back then.

Romans 14:17-19 says, “For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but the righteousness and the peace and the joy in The Spirit of Holiness. For whoever serves The Messiah in these things is beautiful to God and is approved before the children of men. And now, let us run after peace and after, building one another up.” (Peshitta Translation)

Does the Father intend for us to live in peace? It says in the verse above that it’s part of the Kingdom of God and again, it says to run after it. He wants us to be intentional with it. He wants us to be intentional about building ourselves up and then after, one-another.

Colossians 3:15 was SO revelatory to me. It says, “And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (NASB)

What does the word “let” mean? How do you “let” peace and the word of Christ dwell within you? Here is what let means:

Let (G1018) means to arbitrate, i.e. (genitive case) to govern, from 1017 (an umpire) an award (of arbitration), a prize

I was uncertain of what arbitrate meant so I went to the dictionary for that.

Arbitrate means to settle (a dispute between two people or groups) after hearing the arguments and opinions of both, but the archaic meaning is powerful. It means: Decide, Determine.

Arbitrate is also a verb. And if you’ve read any of my past blogs, I’ve explained what “genitive case” means before. It means to show possession like putting an apostrophe s after something.  An example would be, that is Judy’s dog. The ‘s shows whose dog it is. It shows possession. So, since “let” is genitive case, it’s saying that it’s ours to own, it’s ours to do.  We let (determine) for peace to rule in our hearts. We let (decide) for the word of Christ to dwell within us. We actively “run after” peace and intentionally acquire it.

Here are a couple of verses to show us that this is God’s will and desire for us:

Psalms 29:11 “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.” (NASB) Who’s giving it? The Lord. If He’s giving it to us, then it’s something He wants us to have.

Isaiah 54:10 (in the Peshitta…I love this) “Because the mountains shall be leveled and high places shall bow down, and my grace shall not pass away from you, and the covenant of your peace shall not pass away, says Lord Jehovah, the lover.”

Ezekiel 34:25 and 37:26 both also reference a “covenant of peace.” Ezekiel 37:26 says, “And I shall raise up to them a covenant of peace and an eternal covenant shall be with them, and I shall multiply them, and I shall put my holy place among them for eternity.” (Peshitta Translation)

In John 14:27 Jesus said, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. It is not as the world gives that I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not let it be afraid.” (Peshitta Translation)

Isaiah 26:3 says, “The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in Thee. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock.” (NASB)

These verses indicate that God’s intention is for us to walk in peace. He has given us a covenant of peace. Take a look at this verse from the Amplified: 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity or cowardice or fear, but (He has given us a spirit) of power and of love and of sound judgment and personal discipline (abilities that result in a calm, well-balanced mind and self-control).”

Might I just say, this is the complete opposite of what we experience in the world. If you’ll remember the reference from John 14 above, Jesus said the peace that He gives is not as the world gives.  Peace is not circumstantial, it’s faith.

This is not a passive faith walk we are being called to walk. We are in a war, we live in a war-zone, that’s why we have armor and we’re supposed to use it, every day. There are times our faith might come easier…there may be battles we have overcome enough times that it’s not hard to believe and stand strong, but at other times it’s all we can do to not freak out…it’s in those times that we MUST determine, by choice to run to Him for help and strength.

Remember the verse I referenced earlier from Isaiah 26:3 which says, “The steadfast of mind Thou wilt keep in perfect peace.” Here is what “steadfast means in the Hebrew:

Steadfast (H5564) means, to prop (literally or figuratively): to lean upon or take hold of, bear up, lean, lie hard, rest self, set self, stand fast, stay (self), sustain.

There might literally be times you have to prop yourself up on Him. He knows that…He wants you to do that. The rest of verse 3 says, “because he trusts in Thee.” Here is what trust means:

Trust (H982) means, to hie for refuge. Hie means to hasten or run quickly to. This verse is literally saying to run quickly to Him for refuge. Again, this is what He wants from us. When needed, He wants us to lean on Him, to be propped up by Him, and run quickly to Him for safety. He’s not expecting us to be self-sufficient; He knows that we need Him and He wants us to need Him.

The world, at this time, is in chaos and turmoil. If you spend more time watching the news than reading your Bible and hearing from the Lord, you are definitely being dumped on by the narrative of the day. There is plenty to distract you, there are many circumstances, all clamoring for your attention. Here is what the Lord is speaking to me.

We are in times that resemble Biblical events from history, like a Red Sea moment or the children of Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness. God had told them that He was going to lead them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land but there were a LOT of obstacles in-between; Much like today.

If you are listening to the prophetic voices and alternative news sources, you have heard and know that things are not what the narrative of the day is spouting. There is a plan taking place but it’s not necessarily “in the open” at this time. We are in a war, but this war looks different than any other war in history. This is an information war with lots of dis-information being shared.

The enemy, both in the natural AND the spiritual, wants you to be afraid, distracted by fear, consumed with worry. As I thought about this, I thought about a chapter I wrote in my book, “God Stories.” It’s a Bible study I put together that I wrote into a chapter on many of the circumstances the Children of Israel faced and how they responded to each one. When you break down the different situations and look at their responses you see fear, grumbling and complaining, unbelief, accusations towards Moses and a host of other things. The point of the study was to reveal that the same enemies they faced back then, in their trying circumstances, are the same enemies we face today.

Have you ever wondered why they never got it right in regard to their faith and believing what God was telling them? They saw divine protection from the hand of God while they were in Egypt. Exodus 9:26 says, “Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail.” They saw with their eyes; Egypt being hit with plague after plague while they were not affected at all.

They saw the Red Sea parted and walked through on dry ground and then the army of Egypt drowned when the waters came back together. They were fed Manna which fell on the ground to be gathered each morning, they drank from a rock, where water poured out, and 1 Corinthians 4 says they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ. Scripture says they were not sick nor did their clothes wear out, yet when they got to the border of Canaan and sent the spies in to check it out, they believed the report of the 10 with a negative report over the two that said God will complete what He promised.

Why did they have such a hard time believing what God had told them? He had said He was taking them to their Promised land, the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They eventually were taken in, but only after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness so that all of the parents who had believed the evil report of the 10 spies had died in the wilderness. Only Joshua and Caleb, the two spies saying, “God will do what He promised” got to go in along with the children of those who did not believe.

Another example comes from Mark 4:35-41. Jesus, getting into the boat told His disciples, “Let us cross over to the other side.” (He told them where they were going). Then Jesus took a nap.  While He was sleeping a great storm arose. Mark 4:37 says, “and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling.” What did the disciples do? Did they remind themselves that Jesus had said where they were going? No! And I assume they did not pray or command the storm on their own to cease as this reference does not indicate that. Instead, they freaked out and woke Jesus up saying, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?”  It’s interesting that what Jesus said to the storm was, “Peace, be still” and the storm ceased. Then Jesus said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?” Could He be saying the same thing to us today?

As I pondered this, I heard the Lord say to me, “You have the opportunity to do it right this time.” We are facing circumstances that seem daunting. We’ve heard that we are doomed as a nation and a global currency reset is taking place…we are hearing nothing positive. But I know what the Lord told me 2 + years ago. He said, “Your stance is to believe the prophets and “stand” on what I’ve shown you.” I have not relented.

I want to encourage you all to make this choice to believe in the face of dire circumstances and believe for God to move in a big way; to tell the devil you are DONE being slammed with fear and hopelessness. We are at our Red Sea moment, and it feels like the enemy is barreling down, BUT God is on the move. Believe along with me and refuse to let your peace be stolen from you. Face the devil and look him in the eye and smile…because God is on our side, and He wins.

When you hear a negative report, you can respond in the flesh like the Children of Israel, OR you can confess to the Lord that you are trusting Him and pray for Divine Intervention. It’s as easy as that. Believe me, this is NOT what the devil wants you doing. When more of us respond in faith each time, the devil loses his stronghold. The Lord might even begin to show you aspects He wants you to pray Scripture into or declare by faith about. It’s an exciting time to partner with Him, and a crucial time as well…

If you are still struggling with thinking we are moving into the “end times”, I want to encourage you to go to this link and watch this teaching by Wanda Alger.

(302) MY VIEW OF END TIMES THEOLOGY – YouTube

Even if you don’t believe what she has to say, at least listen, then make a more educated decision after hearing her teaching. You can also buy the book called “Victorious Eschatology” by Dr. Harold Eberle. You can buy it from Amazon. I’ve read most of it and it’s very good. They use the Bible and ancient history to explain that a lot of Revelations was fulfilled in 70AD so much of what we attribute to our future is actually in the past. What they teach is that about a third is still left to be fulfilled and guess what? If we are around for that then we will be led as we go. Our God is faithful to us who believe.

Sometime soon I’m going to do some research on how this end time philosophy came to be, but what I have heard is this belief has only been around since the early 1900’s and was majorly encouraged by the Schofield Bible which was evidently financially funded by the Luciferian cult. Think about it…if they can get Christians to accept their end times doctrine then we won’t “occupy until He returns” because we believe that the earth is doomed to be taken over by the anti-Christ and we’re waiting and praying to get whisked away. We won’t be believing for the knowledge of the Glory of God to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. (And personally, that is what I believe will happen before we, His believers, are taken from the earth. We are to bring Heaven to earth as Jesus prayed,)

I pray this has encouraged you. I pray you will stand, wear peace on your feet and take it wherever you go. As you view life through peace and faith instead of the familiar process of human reasoning you will rise up and fulfill what God has for you with faith and courage.

We all have a part to play in taking back our nation. Ask the Father what your part is. It could be political like something local, it could be through intercession, it could be something else.…if you are interested in doing some national intercession excursions, I have some places I’m going to go soon, some possibly to the East coast, and some more local too, like Jeff City. I would welcome some participation from like-minded prayer warriors.

Here are the two-teaching links from Mike Thompson that set me on this journey:

You won’t be disappointed if you watch them both.  They were both excellent!

In closing I’d like to share a song that really speaks to me about all of this.

(304) Firm Foundation (He Won’t) [feat. Chandler Moore & Cody Carnes] | Maverick City Music | TRIBL – YouTube

Until next time…

Have you ever heard people say,”God is in control”?  Ultimately, I’m not here to argue that question. God is God and He can do whatever He wants, BUT most of the time that comment comes along with an actionless lifestyle.  It allows people to not feel compelled to any type of responsibility because God is in control, and He will do what He wants with or without us.

Then on the other side of the fence we have men and women ready to start a civil war to fight for the freedoms they feel we are losing. While noble and courageous, I’m not sure that kind of action is what God is asking for either. A scripture comes to mind from Isaiah 55:8 which says, “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. “

I love this verse from 2 Kings 19:32-35. It tells a miraculous intervention from the Lord Himself. “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. ‘He shall not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out, and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold all of them were dead.’” (You can also read of this account in Isaiah 37:31-36.)

I LOVE this!!  And I know God can do this. I am not limiting God’s hand on anything He wants to do… But I believe the Lord wants us to show up in these days. I believe He has a plan and He wants to partner with us to see that plan come to pass, and there are many more Biblical examples that show this type of partnership, working together with the Lord than the example above where the Lord just divinely intervened.

The Red Sea

In Exodus 14 we find the Children of Israel standing at the Red Sea. Israel is freaking out because they look behind them and Egypt is rushing toward them. Pharoah had changed his mind and realized all his free labor had left the country. He said in Exodus 14:5, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

So here they are, trapped at the Red Sea with nothing but water in front of them and Egypt’s army rushing up behind them. They start accusing Moses and saying all kinds of words that, in their fear, were not really true. Listen to what Moses says to them; Verses 13 and 14 say, “But Moses said to the people, ‘Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.’”

Now…listen to what the Lord says to Moses. “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. And as for you (Moses), lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.”

Did you see this? This was dual partnership. God told Moses to do his part and God did His. Moses did his 5% (which didn’t really make any sense in reality) and God did His 95%  and worked a miracle! The children of Israel walked on dry land across the Red Sea then God told Moses to lift his staff again on the other side (verse 26) and the waters came crashing down on Egypt’s army drowning them all.

To our natural minds, this makes no sense.  What does lifting your staff toward the water have anything to do with the Red Sea parting, but it was what God asked him to do and God worked the rest out His way and for Israel’s good.

Gideon’s Story

Now let’s look at Gideon in Judges 6.  Verse 11  says “Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.’”

Did you get this? Gideon is HIDING in a winepress beating out wheat secretly so the Midianites won’t steal it and the angel of the Lord calls him a valiant warrior. Gideon is like, “Huh? Me?”  He sees himself anything but a warrior, but God sees us as who we really are, not as life’s circumstances have painted us to be.

Verse 14 says, “And the Lord looked at him and said, ‘Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?’” (Gideon is dumbfounded…He is not sure he’s hearing correctly from this angel of the Lord.)

So, to make this story shorter, after several fleeces God convinces Him that he is seeing clearly and verses 22-23 say, “When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, ‘Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Peace to you, do not fear, you shall not die.’”

 Then God proceeds to give him a plan.  A plan that makes NO SENSE in the natural. First, he needs to reduce his fighting force. The Lord tells Gideon that he has too many people. (What?) He doesn’t want Israel to think that they beat the Midianites with their own strength so he tells him to take his willing men down to the river to see how they drink. Those who drank by putting their hands to their mouths were only 300 men and God said to let the rest of the people go home.

Then in Judges 7:16  he divides the 300 men into three groups.  He gave each man a pitcher, a torch and a shofar. Each man was to put the torch inside the pitcher. Verse 18-22 says, “When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp, and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ So, Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted watch; and they blew the trumpets (shofars) and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’”

“And each stood in his place around the camp, and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. And when they blew 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath.”

Again, this is an example of men doing their part and God doing His part. God literally had the enemy killing themselves as the rest fled for their lives. Man did their small part and God did the most!! Don’t you just LOVE this? And again, the strategy made no sense what-so-ever.

Israel at Jericho

Next let’s look at the Children of Israel as they take Jericho. This is found in Joshua chapters 3-6. This is a most interesting battle plan. This example starts with Israel at the Jordan river. In 3:14-17 this generation of Israel experienced the same miraculous crossing of a body of water as their parents. They crossed the Jordan river, in flood stage it says, on dry ground. It says, “So it came about when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), that the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarathan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So, the people crossed opposite Jericho. And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”

So, let’s lay a little ground work. These people were the children who were born in the wilderness when their parents refused to believe that they would have the victory over Jericho. Whether they thought they had to fight in the flesh to win on their own or whether they just didn’t think God would win a victory for them (even though He had miraculously provided for them time and time again on their journey), I don’t know, but I suspect the enemy was telling them that it was going to be up to them to conquer on their own, not a partnership of working together.  None the less, here are the very children of these men and women who are now at the same moment in time. This time they obeyed instead of freaking out.

First of all I think it’s important to note who is leading this attack against Jericho. Joshua 5:13-14 says, “Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, ‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’ And he said, ‘No, rather I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, ‘What has my lord to say to his servant?’

I love this verse. Joshua is asking, “Are you for us or them” and the angel says, “No.”  Don’t ask me why I think this is so humorous. The angel is saying, “Let’s do this my way.”

So, here was the plan that the angel laid out. Verses 6:6-10 say, “So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.’ Then he said to the people, ‘Go forward, and march around the city, and let the armed men go on before the ark of the Lord.’ And it was so, that when Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord went forward and blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while they continued to blow the trumpets. But Joshua commanded the people saying, ‘You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard, nor let a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.’”

Does this plan to take Jericho make tactical sense? Is walking around the walls of Jericho a good war plan? Wouldn’t they be open targets for the warriors of Jericho? The walls were thick enough to run chariots on, so they were like roads. Jericho’s army could have sat up there all day long and picked people off but evidently that didn’t happen. Scripture does not say this. It seems that Israel was divinely protected.

Also, keep in mind, Israel had not been trained to war. They had spent the last 40 years surviving one- day-at-a-time in the wilderness, not going to boot camp to become a good soldier.  But still, don’t you imagine they would have had to take a deep breath, gulp, and say “Ok…we’re going to obey what Joshua heard from the angel of the lord, even though this makes no sense what-so-ever.” I believe this took great faith to act out, and this time they did not behave like their fathers.

Continuing in Joshua 6:11-16 it says, “So he had the ark of the Lord taken around the city, circling it once; then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Now Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. And the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of ram’s horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew the trumpets; and the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while they continued to blow the trumpets. Thus, the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp; they did so for six days.”

“Then it came about on the seventh day that they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times; only on that day they marched around the city seven times. And it came about at the seventh time, when the priests blew the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, ‘Shout! For the Lord has given you the city.’”

(Verse 20) “So the people shouted and priests blew the trumpets; and it came about, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, that the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.”

This is another great example of God leading people to partner with Him in a most unusual manner to accomplish a victory. The tactical strategy made no sense, but the people obeyed with their actions and God did the rest.

Here is my favorite example

Jehoshaphat VS Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir

Let me give a little history here. Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. He was one of the good kings who honored God and sought His wisdom.  2 Chronicles 20 tells of this example of God’s partnership with His people.

“Now it came about after this that the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, together with some of the Meunites, came to make war against Jehoshaphat. (vs 1) And Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. (vs 3) So Judah gathered together to seek help from the Lord; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the Lord.”

First of all, I’d like to say that I LOVE that they were seeking the Lord about this instead of panicking and allowing their responses to be reactions instead of moving in an offensive posture. They took the time to seek the Lord.

As they were seeking the Lord together, in an assembly, the Spirit came upon Jahaziel and this is what he said. (vs 15-18) “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow, go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. You need not fight in this battle, station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the Lord is with you.’ And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord.”

I’d like to interject an observation here.  The word of the Lord told them “The battle is not yours but God’s.” This was not telling them they didn’t need to show up and they could just stay home. The Lord told them “Tomorrow, go down against them.” The battle wasn’t theirs to fight, but they still needed to show up and do their part. Now listen to what the battle plan was… a completely “this makes no sense at all” kind of plan.

(vs 20-24) “And they rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Listen to me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established. Put your trust in His prophets and succeed.’ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who sang to the Lord and those who praised Him in holy attire, as they went out before the army and said, ‘Give thanks to the Lord, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.’”

“And when they began singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come against Judah; so they were routed. For the sons of Ammon and Moab rose up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir destroying them completely, and when they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another. When Judah came to the lookout of the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and behold, they were corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped.”

(vs 29) “And the dread of God was on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel.”

I don’t know about you, but this excites me and stirs my faith big time! Israel didn’t have to lift a finger in battle. They sent out the worship team as their tactical strategy and God did the rest.

How does this speak to us in these times we are in today? For me, it tells me that in the ways the Lord leads me I must show up and obey. It’s a perfect example of God saying “My ways are not your way” and in my opinion, Jehoshaphat’s example of seeking the Lord in his fearful time is exactly what we should be doing today. God had a plan for victory for them, but if they had not sought Him to find out what that plan was, they may have been defeated. It’s no different for us today.

Many people are fearful in the times we are living and see no hope for a good outcome. I believe God is allowing this season to be extended because He wants to wake people up, especially the church.  We were complacent.  We were busy entertaining ourselves. We weren’t busy with the work of the kingdom. We weren’t resisting the forces of darkness.

I want to throw out another challenging thought. Much of the church has been focused on winning souls to the Lord and I’m not saying we shouldn’t be doing that, but I also believe that there’s a bigger picture than just soul winning. We are to also teach people who they are when they come into the kingdom and teach them to represent His kingdom well. We are to teach them to walk with dominion and authority over the powers of darkness. We are to believe that what Habakkuk 2:14 says is supposed to happen which is, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

It’s my personal opinion that as much as satan HATES seeing people go to Heaven, it’s not his primary focus. If his only focus was to prevent souls from getting saved, he wouldn’t be promoting abortion so hot and heavy as each baby that doesn’t get a chance to live goes straight to Heaven for eternity. So, it’s more than just that.

I believe satan’s focus is to keep the glory of God from covering the earth…and it’s to keep believers from expecting heaven to manifest on the earth at this time. That’s what he hates the most and that’s what his focus is on. He’ll let millions of babies live eternity in Heaven as long as God’s glory does not cover the earth…as long as heaven isn’t manifested on this earth with signs and wonders. Pray about this and see if it bears witness with your spirit.

Keeping Christians from realizing who they are and what they’ve inherited is key in keeping people focused on something else besides the glory of God covering the earth.  I fully believe God’s glory IS going to cover the earth and the knowledge of His kingdom will be seen by all BEFORE Christ comes to get His bride.  Jesus is coming for a victorious bride not a fearful bride needing to be rescued.  If needing t0 be rescued is what happens, then satan wins and God had to rescue His people because satan was going to destroy them. That doesn’t sound like God wins…that sounds like satan wins.  I refuse that image; I reject that teaching.

Why do I believe we are to partner with God instead of just saying, “God’s will, will be done.” It’s because of verses like this one out of Psalms 115:16; “The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; but the earth He has given to the sons of men.” Who does the earth belong to? Mankind. Who did God give dominion of the earth to? Well according to Genesis 1:28 it says that God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

So back to my main point.  We all have a part to play in partnering with God at this time.  He does have a plan and it includes us.  Each of us may have a different roll to play so I can’t even pretend to know what you are supposed to do.  I am responsible for myself before God. But what I do know is as we ALL do the small things, the seemingly insignificant things He asks us to do, daily, it will all come together. His ways are not our ways.  His tactical maneuvers make no sense to our rational minds but in the kingdom of Heaven it’s a different story.

Let me give you a recent example to make this point. Kevin Zadai was doing a conference in Georgia a while back.  While he was there, he felt the prompting to take a group of people to the Georgia Guidestones and pray what He told them to pray. So, on one of the afternoons they went. While there, the Lord told them to not renounce or rebuke anything about that satanic structure but to make covenant with the Lord there and take communion, reclaiming that land to the Lord.  The Lord even instructed them not to touch it but to just stand there, pray and take communion together. I believe they even poured a little of the wine on the ground.

Just about a month ago, a lightning bolt came from heaven during the middle of the night and struck the Georgia Guidestones and part of it fell to the ground. By noon of that day a crew came and completely removed it, leaving nothing behind.  They had taken it down before anyone could even investigate to see what had happened.  The Guidestones were part of an evil agenda against our land and the people, it was like the 10 commandments God gave His people, except it was a nefarious agenda of darkness. The first statement on the Guidestones said they wanted to see the population of the globe reduced to 500 million. That’s about 90% of the population destroyed.  It is now removed, completely.

This is right after the lightning bolt struck it, before they removed it. This structure was a favorite occult visitation place. It was their commandments from the dark side.

As far as I know, this wasn’t covered on the nightly news. And if you were anything like me, up until about a year ago I didn’t even know it existed, but it had been in existence since 1980.

This is just one example of a Godly man (like any of us) obeying the prompting of the Lord and months later seeing fruit from his obedience.

I have been led lately to travel different places and pray or take communion as led by the Lord. I have made a journal of my obedience and I know I will be able to look back and see changes come from those things. As we all do our part, change will come. As we all obey His promptings, we will see the atmosphere around us come into alignment with God’s heart and that is for the knowledge of the glory of the Lord to cover the earth. Nothing is too small or insignificant for God to use. As He directs and we obey, change WILL come. His glory WILL be revealed!

Like Jesus taught the disciples in Matthew 6:10; “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” Do we have faith to believe we can see heaven manifested on this earth during our lifetime? I sure do!

Psalms 145:10-12; “All Thy works shall give thanks to Thee, O Lord, and Thy godly ones shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men Thy mighty acts, and the glory of the majesty of Thy kingdom.”

And so, I pray and believe like David in Psalms 72:18-19; “Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone works wonders. And blessed be His glorious name forever, and may the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.

Does the Church have an identity crisis?

I got saved in 1972 and like most of you received Christ as my personal Savior, realizing my need for Him and accepting the gift He paid the price for.  I’d like to take a look along with you on what He purchased for us…I wonder if we’ve just seen a part of the picture.

When God created Adam and Eve, He created them with a mandate. Genesis 2:28 says this, “And God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

God created mankind with original intent, it was to rule over the earth. Let’s take a look at the word rule in the Hebrew:

Rule= to tread down, subjugate, (make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign (make to) rule over.

Subjugate in the dictionary means this: to bring under control, governance, as a subject, conquer, to make submissive.

Adam and Eve were created with an assignment, to fill the earth (which we hear about) and to subdue it and rule over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Unfortunately, Adam and Eve, because of their sin in eating of the tree of good and evil, gave that dominion over to the devil. He lied to them, they believed him and a transfer was made.

Jesus came to the earth to re-establish that original mandate?  What!? You may proclaim…that’s a bold statement!  Is it??  Let’s take a stroll through Scripture and look at some things.

Jesus was tempted in the wilderness by the devil, being led there by the Holy Spirit (ever wonder why He did that?). I wonder if it was to begin “undoing” what satan had done to Adam and Eve in the garden…one piece at a time, taking back what had been taken from them. Jesus faced satan’s half-truths, using Scripture none the less, and Jesus spoke truth and stood strong on each one. Jesus used scripture back at the devil to refuse him. Matthew 4:6 even says the devil said, “IF You are the Son of God…”. Jesus knew who He was and stood strong against him.

Matthew 4:23, just 17 verses later, Jesus is going through all of Galilee, teaching and proclaiming “the gospel of the kingdom, healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.”

Matthew 5:1, just 3 verses later, Jesus begins His first sermon recorded in scripture and much of it was explaining to them what the kingdom was about; What it looked like, how the people in the kingdom lived and in Matthew 6:10 He even tells us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Let’s look at several of Jesus’ analogies. He talks about salt in Matthew 5:13-14.  He says, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under-foot by men.”

Have we ever really taken the time to wonder what this means? More on this later.

Matthew 5:15-16 says, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck measure, but on a lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house.

What does it mean to be a lampstand?  Again…my thoughts on this will be later.

Matthew 7:7-8 says, “Ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

Do we know this?  Do we believe it? It’s really important for us to understand this…Jesus is beginning to reveal to people some important, “kingdom living” principles. Let’s begin with the word ask.

Ask in the Greek (the New Testament is translated from Greek text) means, to ask (in genitive case), call for, crave, desire, require.  Do you know what genitive case means?  It’s like putting an ‘s at the end of something like this sentence here “Sue’s dog likes to bark.”  The ‘s after Sue tells you whose dog likes to bark.

Ask in this reference also reveals ownership. Jesus is saying that it’s ours to ask for. When we ask, call for, crave, desire and require, it’s going to be answered (per Jesus) because it’s ours to ask for. If we can just let this truth permeate down through our being, it will completely change our prayer life. By understanding that we have been given permission to “own” the things we pray into the kingdom, it stirs up our faith.

In contrast to this, Matthew 6:30 says this, “But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, “men of little faith?”  Let’s look at the words little faith.

I’ve shared before, but it’s worth sharing again that faith means: persuasion, moral conviction (of the truthfulness of God) from the primary root, a verb “to convince”.

Little means: puny (in extent, degree, number, duration) especially neuter.  Neuter in the dictionary means “neither active or passive.”

I had to do a little more digging to understand the “passive” part of the above meaning but in my dictionary, here is what passive means: not active or operating: INERT.  Inert means lacking the power to move.  Wow!!  So, when Jesus is talking to them about having little faith, He is literally telling them that it means to have such a lacking of power in their understanding of truth that they are rendered unable to move. They aren’t convinced of the truth of His word so they are immobile.

All of these things, and many more are in the three chapters that are called The Sermon on the Mount and these people heard all of this in one sitting. There are many nuggets of truth here, I’ve just pulled out a few.

Matthew 9:2-6 is when Jesus is brought the paralytic, lying on a bed. Seeing their faith (this is the same word as above and means “convinced”) Jesus says, “Take courage, My son, your sins are forgiven.”

“And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This fellow blasphemes.’ And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, ‘Why are you thinking evil in your hearts? For which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven, or to say Rise and walk?’ But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’ then He said to the paralytic, ‘Rise, take up your bed, and go home.’”

This is one of the first times Jesus proclaims that He has authority and here is what that word means.

Authority is the Greek word exousia (G1849) (in the sense of ability) privilege, i.e. force, capacity, competency, delegated influence, authority, power, strength from a double root G1537 which is a primary preposition denoting origin (the point whence action or motion proceeds) from AND G1510 I exist, I am.

To put this into simpler language, exousia means “from I Am”.  God is the great I Am. Jesus’ exousia authority came from I Am.

Now comes the cool part…the part that applies to us. Matthew 10:1 says, “And having summoned His twelve disciples, He gave them authority (exousia) over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and every kind of sickness.

Did you know that Jesus gave the same authority to his disciples (and to us)? The same “I AM” power that Jesus operated in; He gave back to us. Adam and Eve gave it away in the garden and Jesus, on the Cross, took it back.

Now let’s look at Luke 9:1-2. “And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and to heal diseases. And He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing.”

Power is the Greek word dunamis. In the Strong’s Concordance it’s G1411 and means force (literally or figuratively); specially, miraculous power, might, ability, strength.

We have already looked at authority above. It’s the word exousia but in addition to it coming from “I AM”, which still blows me away that it’s that specific in telling us where the authority comes from, I also want to point out that one of the meanings is also “delegated influence”. What does delegated influence look like?  I have a natural example to help us understand it.

My son in law is a police officer. When he has on his police uniform, he has authority.  He has a uniform and a badge. That badge lets people know that he has the delegated authority to tell you what you can and can’t do. He can pull you over and give you a ticket.  He can take you to jail. He has been delegated that authority by the city he works for and his uniform and badge let everyone know so.

In Christ, because of the work He did on the cross, we have been given delegated authority from “I AM”. The word meaning makes that clear.

Now let’s look at Luke 10:19. “Behold, I have given you authority (exousia) to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power (dunamis) of the enemy and nothing shall injure you.”

If you do a word search of “power of the enemy” this is the only verse that comes up.  If you search “authority of the enemy” nothing comes up.

Here is my point. We have been given power and authority. The devil only has power…he has NO authority.  We have a badge (figuratively speaking because we have delegated authority), he has NO badge. The devil has no delegated authority, he only acts like it. It is so important that we know this. Most of us have lived our Christian lives not knowing who we are.  We didn’t know we had a badge…so we haven’t moved in authority. (On a side note…would our world be in the condition it’s currently in if we had known and used our God given authority?)

We need to begin to see ourselves as Heaven sees us. We are told we are sinners saved by grace. The accurate way to say this would be “we once were sinners and now we are saved by grace”, but we need to move on from there and begin to realize who the Bible says we are. Search the New Testament for what we are called. I’ll start a list for you:

• Beloved (2 Peter 3:14, Jude 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost) and many others
• Saints (1 Corinthians 16:1) and many others
• Believers (Acts 5:14) and others
• Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?…for the temple of God is holy and that is what you are.)
• Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?)

I’m sure there are many more…I’ve just listed a few on the top of my head. Now contrasting that, we are referenced ONCE in the New Testament as sinners.  James 4:8 says, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

In 1Timothy 1:15 Paul does refer to himself as the chief of sinners, but other than that I find nothing else.

Romans 5:8 says, “But God commanded His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” But you’ll notice that this was us before Christ, not us now. We must get this or we’ll struggle to understand who we’ve been called to be.

Now Google the term “sinner saved by grace” and see what scripture that is. You won’t find it, it’s not there.  I looked in the Strong’s Concordance too. It’s not there, so why do we hear it said so much?

Here is an example that helps understand this dynamic better. If you have a son and you constantly correct him calling him a “bad boy” what would they become? Who would they see themselves to be? A more accurately thing to say would be, “That behavior doesn’t line up with who you are.” It judges the behavior but doesn’t diminish who you see him to be. I believe we need to refuse the “sinner saved by grace” image.

So back to the badge… Remember the event that happened at a school in Uvalde, Texas. I heard that policemen, with badges and authority, stood outside and didn’t intervene. Many were in an uproar about it and judged their behavior poorly.

Could it be that we have been in the same position? We have been given authority by God Himself. What does He want us to do with it?  I don’t think it’s to stand by observing devastation and do nothing.  But what He’s calling you to do is for you to hear, and you need to ask. I know it will be something, even if it’s in the realm of intercession.

Now let’s go back to Jesus’ sermon on the mount and look at His reference to salt and light. Matthew 5:13a says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt becomes insipid, with what will it be salted?”

If the salt (us) becomes insipid (lacking in qualities that interest, stimulate or challenge), with what will the earth be salted? Think about it. This scripture is asking how will salt (stimulate or challenge) the earth if it becomes insipid. It’s obvious that we are to do something if we are to salt the earth. Now look at 5:13b “It is good for nothing except to be thrown outside and to be trodden upon by people.”

This is saying that if we as salt of the earth don’t do what we are supposed to do, then we will be trodden on by people. Do you see this happening today?

Now let’s look at Matthew 5:14 “You are the light of the world. You cannot hide a city that has been built upon a mountain. And they do not light a lamp and set it under a basket but on a lampstand and it gives light to all those who are in the house.”

This scripture doesn’t say you are the light of the church but that’s mostly what’s been done.  The church preached for years that we were to protect ourselves and our children and pull out of culture. This was the prevalent teaching when I got saved and raised my children.  We can all see where that got us. We left culture and culture went the way it went without any salt or light to influence it or hold back the darkness so to speak.

Jesus ends that portion by saying in Matthew 5:16 “Thus your light will shine before the children of men that they may see your good works, and may glorify your Father who is in Heaven. Our light didn’t shine before the children of men. They didn’t see our good works because we had left the culture.

It’s time for a heart check and an identity check. Spend some time soul searching to see what you believe about your self and your walk with the Lord. Do you know you are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus? Or are you just a sinner saved by grace. How you perceive yourself will determine how you live and what you believe you can accomplish.

Have you been one of the ones who were taught to “not get involved in politics” or not to expect transformation of the world systems and the whole philosophy that the world will only get darker and darker before the day of the Lord’s return, so why try?  These mindsets and many others have gotten us where we are. I, for one, do not believe that we are close to the end times and we need to shake the dust off and ask Holy Spirit what to put our hand to, to affect change. Let’s get salty guys. Let’s get before the Lord and get our assignment and begin to make a difference.

If the Lord comes back sooner than I think, it’s a victorious bride He is coming for, not one hoping we can just make it until His return. Victory not victim… Habakkuk 2:14 says, “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”  This has not happened…let’s partner with Him to make this happen.

Jesus said in John 14:12, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.”

I’m looking for the greater works…I’m looking for the glory of God to cover the earth. And I believe He is too and it’s our assignment to accept our identity and calling and affect change. We will do our part and He will do the most! That’s just the way He is…and I love that about Him.

I woke up early this morning, way before I was supposed to get up and my head was full of thoughts and scriptures that the Lord was showing me. When I got up and started writing down the different scriptures and thoughts I decided that this evening I would start writing.

The first thought that came to my mind was being a fruit inspector. In many areas of our life we may wonder if something is from the enemy or the Lord. 1 John 4:1-3 says, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God:and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

This verse shows the importance of knowing truth and not being led into deception. Right away this verse from John 10:10 came to mind. It says, “The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy. I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly.

Isaiah 49:22 says, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and set up My standard to the people.’” The word standard in Hebrew means a flag or banner. Think of a golf course with a flag at the end of each hole showing you where to aim the ball. That is a standard. I felt the Lord tell me this morning that John 10:10 is also a standard. We can use it to help us determine truth and aim the course of our life.

Does a situation steal, kill and destroy? Or does it bring life abundantly? Think of the many times in your life that you have been in situations and wonder how to pray. Teachings abound on every subject but not all are accurate. Sickness and healing comes to mind. Some believers think that God allows sickness to teach us a lesson, but I don’t see that supported in scripture. This doctrine has come about from experiences where people have not been healed so doctrine is created using reasoning to support their experience instead of making God’s word the standard that our faith must rise to. Does sickness and disease kill, steal and destroy? Yes…Does sickness and disease bring life more abundantly? No! So based upon that standard, sickness and disease are from the enemy.

Applying this same standard let’s look at a topic that’s prominent in the news today. It’s the issue of abortion.

I was a high schooler in the 60’s when Roe vs Wade was passed. I was not focused on what was going on around me and did not know until the mid seventies, when my first child was a baby, that abortion was such a grievous thing. The church I was attending encouraged us to get involved and informed and some of us went to a Women’s Lib convention in the city where I lived. People from both sides were in attendance and a Pro-Life group was there. In their session I watched a movie of a real abortion. It was horrifying! I was sickened by what I saw and it was my first exposure to what abortion was…no candy coating or justifying it’s need for women, just the cold hard truth.

Not knowing what I could do about it made me feel helpless. I believed it was wrong but what could I do? It was already a law. Taking the biblical standard of truth from above, does abortion give life abundantly, or kill, steal and destroy? Even if you believe in abortion I think you’d have to agree that it kills, steals and destroys. But many Christians believe in abortion. According to statistics, the percentages are almost equal for Christians and non Christians on who has had an abortion.

This is not meant to be judgement on anyone. What’s happened in the past is not my focus, I’m thinking forward focused here. There is not any situation that the blood of Jesus can’t cover and all sin, when repented of, is covered and forgiven. I used to be a part of a music ministry group called Redeeming Grace. Our primary purpose was leading worship at post abortion retreats where we ministered through song and set up an atmosphere for grieving women to come and be healed from their past abortions. Women from all walks of life were there, even pastors wives who had aborted a child, some their husbands didn’t even know about, so I am not judging in any way. I want to see all people healed and set free from their past sins and failures.

We were there to support these women as they processed through repentance, forgiving themselves, or a boyfriend, some even their mother who had encouraged or forced them to get rid of their pregnancy. The reasons were varied…this is inconvenient, I can’t afford this, I’m too young to be a mother, I need to go to college to prepare for my future, no one can know what I’ve done. The end result though, was the loss of a life, and then every one of these women lived with a life time of regret. Every one of these women could tell us what their due date was and how old their child would have been today. It was not just the loss (kill, destroy) of their child, but the loss (steals, destroy) of their peace and feelings of worth about themselves. Satan’s evil affects were on both, a double whammy. Nothing about their abortion experience brought them life abundantly, and killed a life in the womb.

Now I want to try to reveal through scripture why God’s ways speak against abortion. Going back to scripture, God in His word said to choose life. Here are a few scriptures to support this:

Deuteronomy 30:15-16 and 19-20: “See, I have set before you today, life and prosperity and death and adversity; in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it….I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants., by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice and by holding fast to Him. For this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Deuteronomy 4:39-40, “Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

Then Deuteronomy 11:26-28 is more clear as it says, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse; the blessing if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today; and the curse if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

God is clearly telling the children of Israel that there will be consequences moving forward, blessing from Him or curses that open up from their choices, depending on who (God or the devil) they listened to and obeyed.

God went as far as to warn the children of Israel before they got to the promised land. He told them NOT to take on the ways of the people who lived in the land God was giving them. What was it that the Canaanites, Hittites, Moabites and others were doing that was grievous to God? They were worshipping false gods and offering up their children for sacrifice to these pagan gods. This god went by various names but the two common names were Baal and Molech, different names but the same pagan god.

Deuteronomy 20:17-18 says, “But you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hittite and the Jebusite as the Lord your God has commanded you, in order that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the Lord your God.

God commanded them to destroy all influence that could lead them away from following God completely. As they went through the land they removed MOST of the people but not ALL and Judges 2:11-13 tells the unfortunate result, “Then the sons of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals, and they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed themselves down to them, thus they provoked the Lord to anger. So they forsook the Lord and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.

Judges 3:5-7 says, “And the sons of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, and Amorites, the Perizzites the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and they took their daughters for themselves as wives, and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. And the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

Unfortunately, today these words mean nothing to us. We don’t know what Baal is or Asheroth, some places called Ashtaroth or Asherah.. Some of my past blogs have gone into a lot of detail with links you can go to and explanations of what these things are. I won’t go into full detail again but to say that Baal worship includes human sacrifice, most of the time their firstborn and Ashtaroth was the female goddess of fertility. They sacrificed their babies for a blessing to conceive more children and for blessing on their crops and finances. I had been a Christian for over 30 years, reading the Bible through multiple times and still did not understand what these references were about.

In Leviticus 18:21 God clearly commands Israel about Baal (Molech) by saying, “Neither shall you give any of your offspring to offer then to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God, I am the Lord.”

God commands them again in Deuteronomy 18:9-10 which says, “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives your, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens or a sorcerer,”

But the unfortunate truth is clear…they did go into pagan worship and and they did offer their children to pagan gods. 2 Kings 17:16-17 says, “And they forsook all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. Then they made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire, and practiced divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him.” (This is a polite way of saying they sacrificed their children to Baal by burning them up)

There are many other references that talk about this. They are: 2 Kings 21:6, 2 Chronicles 33:6, Ezekiel 23:37-39, then I want to list this last one from Ezekiel 16:20-21 which says, “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me, and you sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire.”

Here is another situation I would like to bring forth, one I had never known until I heard it preached a few months back and looked it up for myself. When the children of Israel were being instructed to go into the promised land and given the instructions on how to overtake Jericho, God, through Joshua, commanded them to NEVER rebuild Jericho once it was destroyed.

Here is the scripture from Joshua 6:26 which says, “Then Joshua made them take an oath at that time saying, ‘Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay it’s foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.’” Now, read 1 Kings 16:33-34…”And Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. In his days Hiel of Bethel build Jericho. He laid its foundation with Abram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken through Joshua the son of Nun.”

Why are we not hearing these things taught in church? Scripture makes it clear that we are to learn from the mistakes of Israel and not repeat them. All of Hebrews, chapters 3 and 4, talk about the disobedience of the children of Israel… If I had not heard this from another “no nonsense, speak the truth” pastor, I would have never read through scripture and put together that in even this, God’s commands were disobeyed. From what was preached, two children were sacrificed and placed as corner stones for the city and the gate. It makes more sense now that Ephesians 2:20 makes reference to Jesus being the chief cornerstone, but again, if I didn’t know the Old Testament application, Jesus being the cornerstone isn’t as revelatory. If we don’t know our past history, we are doomed to repeat it. We hear this said in our natural realm all the time!

So, now that we see that sacrificing children was practiced during those days, I’d like to talk about our present day. Did any of you hear in your churches about the abortion bill that they tried to pass 2 ½ weeks ago? It was called HR3755, you can google it. Because of the threat of Roe Vs Wade being overturned by the Supreme Court, the senate tried to pass an abortion bill to make abortion legal in all 50 states. This bill would have made the overturning of Roe vs Wade irrelevant. This bill would have made abortion legal up to BIRTH!

I have a question…how is this ok? How is this not a sacrifice of children? We don’t use a statue of Baal any more to place our children in while burning them alive, our medical technology is more advanced than that, but the children die none the less. Several sites I read online made reference to the “blessing” those who did this pagan practice were seeking in OT days, financial blessing, future fertility blessing, and convenience. Many, many women today abort their children because of convenience (this is not a good time for me to have a baby) or financial (I don’t have enough money to bring a child into the family) etc. So similar…

HR3755 was not passed, by one vote! Here is how the party lines voted. All the republicans voted NO…all the democrats voted YES except for one. The vote ended up being 49 to 51. I know this will not be popular to say but I will say it anyway. If you are a Christian and you are a democrat, you are standing on the side of death. This must be looked at…and again, it’s not being preached in church. Democrats are across the board voting to want abortion up to birth!

Now republicans on many issues these days are no better, so I’m not endorsing their behavior either…but at least on this issue of life or death, they stood for life.

How does this line up with scripture? We must be asking ourselves this question. We must begin to evaluate where we stand. Do our beliefs line up with scripture? If they don’t who needs to adapt? Revelations 19:6b-7 says, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

What does making yourself ready mean. In the Greek the word made ready means: to prepare, to provide and comes from the root adjusted. If we are the bride of Christ, we are the ones who must adjust. We must adjust our belief systems, our mindsets and our behavior. When we see in scripture where we fall short, we are the side that must adjust upward, even if it’s hard or inconvenient.

Why am I saying all of this? Because years ago the Lord gave me the calling of being a “watchman”. Then I received a prophetic word from a very trusted, Godly man, who through the Lord said I was to blow the trumpet and wake up the people. I have been trying to do this for a few years and I have paid the price for it. I am not well liked because of it. But who do I obey? I must obey God over men…

So, I will leave this now with you. It is up to you to seek God’s heart on this and allow the Holy Spirit to bring truth. If He doesn’t then that’s between you and God. If you can show me scripture to support abortion, I would be glad to have a conversation with you, not through social media but in person.

Churches, ask the Lord why you are not preaching these truths? Ask why new believers coming into your body are not being taught these matters which scripture say are matters of life and death, blessing and curses. If these believers who don’t know any better die and stand before God, who is responsible for them not knowing? We, as the body of Christ, must stand up for the truth of scripture. We will stand before the Lord guilty if we don’t.

Here is one last scripture that I came across this morning.

In my opinion, this scripture is clear. The spirit behind this practice is not the Spirit of the Lord, is is demonic. This practice does not bring life but stealing, killing and destroying which is the work of the enemy.

So let’s adjust where we have fallen short. Let’s repent where we have been in sin. Let’s line up where we have been believing compromises of the enemy. Let’s be the body of Christ that loves people by lovingly speaking truth. I love you all and am not writing this in judgment but want to see all come into the life of the kingdom of Heaven.

I have referenced several times lately about our inheritance in Christ. I have to be honest, I have lived most of my Christian life not really knowing what I had inherited, besides my salvation, when I received Christ.  My salvation was a pivotal point in my life as I was on a path to destruction.  My emotions were a mess, my life style was a mess, my marriage was a mess.  I needed rescuing from the fire which was my life.

I was 21 when I received the Lord and made a massive turn in how I lived and what was important to me and I’ve never looked back.  I was saved and I knew that, but I was extremely broken and my process to healing and freedom still took some years.  I plan to write a book about that one of these days.

I got saved back in 1973. The church had not learned much about spiritual authority and even though some came into that understanding, I was in a stream who discarded that concept because some in that movement preached more on the wealth of the kingdom than the whole picture, so they perceived the whole thing as wrong and got turned off.  It’s unfortunate that they threw the baby out with the bathwater. (More about that later…)

This morning I came across several verses and felt led to write about it.  Let’s start with Luke 10:19. I’ll preface this scripture with the setting.  Jesus had sent out 70 people that he had appointed to go ahead of Him into each place, two by two.  He told them to take no money and that the laborers were worthy of their hire. He told them to heal the sick that they met along the way and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.”

Then it says the seventy returned with joy saying, ”Lord even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” Then in verse 19 He says, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.”  When I first got save, all I had was a King James Bible and it read like this, “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and noting shall by any means hurt you.” 

Thank goodness we have versions now that differentiate between these two Greek words which are not the same.  Without some digging into the Hebrew and Greek words one would just assume that it would be the same word. I didn’t know that those two words translated at “power” were two different words.  It just sounded like both the kingdom of darkness had power and the kingdom of God also had power.  But that isn’t what Jesus was saying at all.

“Behold, I have given you authority (power).”  This is the Greek word exousia and it means: (in the sense of ability); privilege, i.e. (subjectively) force, capacity, competency, freedom or mastery, magistrate, superhuman, delegated influence

Let’s take a closer look at these highlighted words:

Privilege means a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage or favor: Prerogative, especially such a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office.

Magistrate means an official entrusted with administration of the laws, an official exercising administrative and often judicial functions.

Delegated Influence:

Delegated means a person acting for another, to entrust to another, to assign responsibility or authority

Influence means: 1. the power or capacity of “causing an effect” 2. One that exerts influence   3. An emanation of spiritual or moral force.

There’s some powerful stuff in this. Privilege is a right granted, magistrate is an official entrusted with exercising judicial functions, delegated influence is a person acting for another with the power or capacity to influence.  This is all just in the word exousia!  Do you see an image being formed here?

The word power (in that which we have authority over the enemy’s power) is the word dunamis.  Here is what it means:

Dunamis: force, ability, power, strength, violence (I only used the words that fit the enemies camp because dunamis is also used in other verses on the Kingdom of Heaven’s side).

So, another translation could be: I have given you authority over all the force of the enemy, over all the ability of the enemy, over all the power of the enemy, over all the strength of the enemy, over all the violence of the enemy. Wow!

Now I want to take you back to the word authority.  This understanding is powerful!

Authority: in the sense of ability, privilege, force, capacity, competency, mastery, magistrate, superhuman, delegated influence from 1832 it is right (through the idea of being out in public), be lawful from a double root: 1537 preposition denoting origin (the point whence action or motion proceeds) “from” and 1510 I exist, (used only when emphatic) “I am”, it is I

I don’t know if you caught that or not but let me break it down for you. The double root of the word authority (exousia) is from I Am.  This is powerful guys!  This shows that it is God’s power and strength flowing through us, nothing from us, it’s all Him! We have been given delegated influence; we have been given the privilege of being used by the Lord for His power to flow through us as we yield ourselves to Him, the Great I Am.

I wish I’d known this 40 years ago. So much of my Christian life was spent with me cowering in fear and allowing the enemy to overwhelm my mind with the issues of the day or the problems in my life.

The second verse I want to share about is Colossians 2:13-15: “And when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us; and He had taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them having triumphed over them through Him.”

Once I was dead in my transgressions, then I accepted Christ and was made alive together with Him, as I was forgiven. He cancelled out my debt, consisting of degrees that were against me.  This is legal terminology. God has a government and His government has an order and what He’s decreed is done. He took those things out of the way when they were nailed to the cross.  Now comes the part we haven’t readily stepped into.

It says He disarmed rulers and authorities and made a public display of them openly, triumphing over them through Him. Let’s look at the highlighted words disarmed, rulers and authorities.

Rulers (KJV says principalities).  In the Greek it is the word arche which means a commencement, chief, magistrate, power from 756 to commence (in order of time), (rehearse from the) begin(-ning) from 757 to be first (in political rank or power) reign (rule) over.

Authorities (KJV says powers) In the Greek this word is exousia (the same word as authority in Luke 10:19) which means (in the sense of ability) privilege, magistrate, delegated influence etc.  Take a look above for the full understanding. 

Guys! This is powerful.  This is indicating that at one time Satan DID have this authority. He underhandedly acquired it when Adam and Eve obeyed the serpent in the Garden.  BUT…it’s been taken back away from him. Jesus went into Hell, took the keys of sin and death away from the devil and It was given back to us as an inheritance when we came into the Kingdom of God.

Now for the word disarmed.  This is powerful guys!  It’s the Greek word apekduomai and it means to divest wholly oneself, or (for oneself) despoil, put off from a double root 575 “off” i.e. away (from something near) and 1562 to cause to sink out of (specially as of clothing) to divest, strip, take off from, unclothe

Divest means to deprive or dispossess especially of property, “authority” or title.

Colossians 2:15 says Christ removed the power and authority from satan (I think you can see this is clear) and made a public display of them, triumphing over them.  In Luke 10:19 Christ says His disciples (and us once He died on the cross and rose from the dead with the keys of sin and death) were given back that authority.

There are other verses that reveal that we also have power (dunamis).  Here are several:

Acts 4:33 “And with great power (dunamis) the apostles were giving witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all.

Acts 6:8 “And Stephen, full of grace and power (dunamis), was performing great wonders and signs among the people.”

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power (dunamis) of God unto salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Now that we see that we have inherited exousia authority from Christ let me give an example to help explain what this means. We obey the police because they have authority. They have a badge that gives them that authority. If they go walk out in traffic and hold up their hand we stop. We see their authority and obey.  They also have power, they have a gun. They can back up their authority with their power for those who don’t acknowledge their authority.

Through Christ we have a badge (authority) and we have a gun (power) that we use on the works of the enemy. With our authority we take back from the devil what he has stolen (remember, Jesus said satan comes to kill, steal and destroy. John 10:10) and we overcome him with power flowing through us from I Am.

Satan has had the badge taken away from him. He was divested of authority and power as it was stripped off, taken off from and unclothed from him (per the meaning of divest above). I know I’m belaboring a point but I feel it’s a point worth belaboring. 

We have been lied to guys. Satan and his ilk have willingly allowed us to remain clueless in this area because they don’t want us to know.  If we perceive him to have power they willingly allow and encourage the deception.  That is how they operate, in the realm of lies and deception. The last thing they want is for the church to realize that we hold the upper hand not them. We have the authority to take things back and bring justice to their violence and we all know there is violence all around us.  We see it on the news and everywhere we look. One preacher I just heard said this lately and it really struck me. He said, “We are the enforcers of His authority.” Isn’t that powerful?

Now I want to cover one last point.  I mentioned in the beginning of this blog that we had thrown out the “faith message” because of the “prosperity” aspect.  I want to shed a little light on it here.

The word salvation in ALL of the Old Testament is the word Yeshua (or Yesha or Tshuw’ah. Here is the meaning of these three words:

Yeshua (which is Jesus in Hebrew) is H3444 and means something saved, deliverance; hence aid, victory, prosperity, deliverance, health, help(-ing), salvation, save, saving (health), welfare from 3467 to be open, wide or free, i.e. to be safe, to free or succor, avenging, defend, deliver(er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, being (having) salvation, save(-iour), get victory.

Yesha is H3468 and means liberty, deliverance, prosperity, safety, salvation, saving from 3467 to be open, wide or free, i.e. to be safe; to free or succor, avenging, defend, deliver(er), help, preserve, rescue, be safe, bring (having) salvation, save(-iour), get victory.

Tshuwah H8668 means rescue, deliverance, help, safety, salvation, victory from 7768 to be free, but used only causatively and reflexively, to haloo (for help i.e. freedom from some trouble) cry aloud, shout

Tshuwah is used less often and is in verses like Psalms 37:39 which says, “But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble.”

I just wanted you all to see that prosperity is part of God’s description of salvation.  If this upsets you, take it up with Him…this was His idea not mine or all of the other teachers and preachers over the year that have talked about it.  If you will look again at the words above for Yeshua, liberty and freedom is mentioned (mental and spiritual deliverance from bondage), health is mentioned (healing) and salvation is mentioned (our salvation through Yeshua) and prosperity is mentioned.

Our salvation in Christ covers it all. He has provided salvation for us on the cross.  Through His death and resurrection we have been given spiritual freedom, safety, prosperity, health and healing and the authority and power to enforce it in the circumstances around us.

Let’s acknowledge that we have a badge and a gun and go kick some spiritual butt for the kingdom! And let’s become those enforcers of His authority that He has called us to be!

I cover this in some degree in my book “God Stories” which you can find in my Etsy Shop. Follow the link to find out more. You will read chapters about times when God has used me and others that I write about, and some chapters on learning who we are in Christ.

I’ve been giving a lot of thought in the past few weeks about the eschatology that we all pretty much cut our teeth on when we accepted Christ, especially the generation that’s my age.  I devoured everything I could learn about “end times” and even took a few bible college courses when Holly was a baby.

What we learned during the late 70’s and the 80’s was Christ was coming at any time and the teaching of those days was that the church was going to be raptured out of horrible times and we imagined those times coming so we hunkered down to await His return.  Then the year 2000 was a BIG deal with Y2K and we (or at least I) was wondering if this would be the time that we would all be whisked away.  I know I’ve said this before, but that teaching and mindset did not create a culture of growing in more of God and learning about His kingdom and how to walk in it making a difference in the world around us.

We were told that in those days the world would become darker and the church would become brighter.  With all of the doom and gloom on the horizon it didn’t really provoke me to invest in my future. When my husband wanted to save for retirement I remember thinking, “We aren’t even going to be here to need it.” The thought of living in those days of darkness intimidated me; I didn’t see them through faith, I didn’t think that anything could be done to influence it. I just hoped we’d be rescued.

Then I started listening to different teachings that began to challenge my perspective.  One podcast I listened to said, “If the world is getting darker and the church is getting brighter then we are hiding our candle inside the four walls of the church.” That comment provoked me and I started mulling it over.

Shortly after that I heard another sermon that talked about the Bride of Christ and the comment was about the Bride not coming into her true identity because she was hunkered down praying for a rapture rescue.  I heard the Lord clearly say that day, “I’m coming back for a victorious Bride, not one looking to be rescued.”  That Word from the Lord stirred my Spirit and my faith rose up to connect with the truth of it… I knew it was true.  It’s from this foundation that I write this blog.

In just the book of Matthew alone, the phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” is used thirty-one times.  John the Baptist was the first one to use that phrase in Matthew 3:2 where he said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  Matthew 4:17 is the next time it’s used in the New Testament and it’s right after Jesus comes back from His testing in the wilderness with the devil and He says, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (It’s interesting that it’s the exact same thing John the Baptist was saying…)

All of the rest of the references are Jesus talking to the people teaching them a new perspective. Matthew 10:7 is where He is talking to His disciples before they are sent out and He says, “And as you go, preach saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

In Matthew 13:44-48 He says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach and they sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.”

Jesus spent His time on this earth speaking a different message to the people of His day, letting them know there was more and it needed to be searched out and found. Yes, His death on the cross, satisfied the need to make animal sacrifices for the rest of our lives and that was a part of the kingdom of heaven message, but I believe many have stopped with that. My intention is to take some time to read every “kingdom of heaven” reference in the book of Matthew, I believe the Lord will bring more to the light.  But that’s another story…back to the purpose of this blog.

Satan wants us to be lulled into contentment with what we have which is contrary to scripture.  Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.”  Proverbs 25:2 says, “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.”  God is honored when we invest our time in searching out His truths.  Today, there are so many things vying for our time. Giving God an intentional portion of that time is using our freewill to focus on Him and I believe it glorifies Him. I know He notices…

Genesis 1:27 is the verse that tells us what we were created and put on earth for.  It says, “And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

I know I’ve shared this before but I don’t think it can be said too much.  God told man to subdue and rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth. Let’s look at subdue and rule:

Subdue: to tread down, to conquer, subjugate, bring into subjection. Subjugate means to bring under control and governance.

Rule over: (KJV says dominion) to tread down, i.e. subjugate; (come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (make to) rule (over).

I believe God intended for Adam and Eve to establish the order that God had set in the Garden of Eden and spread that across the earth, bringing all of earth into God’s order with their God ordained directives of subdue and rule; Instead, Eve, then Adam obeyed the serpent and another system was set in place.

Jesus came to earth, fully man yet fully God and was our perfect example of what a man “completely surrendered to God” could do. He brought heaven to earth for many lives in that short three and a half years of His ministry. When He ascended into hell scripture says He took the keys of hell and death as Revelations 1:17-18 says, “ And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man, and He laid His right hand upon me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, and the living One; and I was dead, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.’”

Jesus went to hell on our behalf to take back from the devil what was stolen from mankind in the garden. He was training His disciples to understand this concept and He trained them to walk in it. In Matthew 16:19, Jesus says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Again, just one chapter later, in Matthew 18:18, Jesus again says, “Truly I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The side note of my Bible says “Or Forbid” and “Or Permit”.  Let me say this verse again using these words instead. “Truly I say to you, whatever you shall forbid on earth is forbidden in heaven; and whatever you permit on earth shall be permitted in heaven.”  What is Jesus saying here?  I believe He was revealing God’s original intent for man stated in Genesis 1.  Do we know this?  I don’t think many of us do…

Back to the bride of Christ.  The Church is that bride, Ephesian 5:25-26 says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.”

Revelations 19:7 says this, “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”

Made ready in the Greek means this: to prepare, provide, make ready from the root adjusted.

That word adjusted really struck me. What might we have that needs adjusting in our lives? Here are the meanings of adjust from the dictionary:

Adjust: 1. settle, resolve 2. Rectify (like adjust an error) or (to bring the parts of to a true or more effective relative position).

The word adjust is a verb, an action word. Movement is required to adjust something…

Now look at these verses to the 7 churches (us) in Revelations:

Revelations 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.”

Revelations 2:11 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.”

Revelations 2:17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.”

Revelations 2:26 “And he who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.”

Revelations 3:5 “He who overcomes shall thus be clothed in white garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.”

Revelations 3:12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God and My new name.

Revelations 3:21 “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Here is says Jesus also overcame and we are expected to also overcome. What does this mean to you?)

Around each one of these verses, either before or after it says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church.” We are the church…what is He saying to us? We are the bride, how do we need to adjust to make ourselves ready?

I have been allowing the Lord to challenge my eschatology and honestly not make it a focus or a priority. It was the teaching of eschatology that basically rendered me paralyzed for most of my Christian life.  I know this is not God’s will or His heart for me.  I know this is not His heart for us

If all of these scriptures are true (and I know they are) then I need to adjust to them. I need to change my mindset and throw out some things that have not helped me grow in my faith and has instead rendered me hiding, waiting to be rescued from this evil world that is out of control.

(Side note here…if we were put here to forbid and permit, what if we have allowed these things by not taking dominion as we were supposed to…Perhaps we need to repent for not owning what was given us to own. Ask the Lord if this is true for you.)

We have inherited a kingdom through Christ. Galatians 4:6-7 says, “Because you are sons (or daughters), God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

I have had a real life experience with being an heir. I lost both of my parents this year and everything they worked for their entire lives has been left to my brothers and I. We had their name because we were their children, and we have their inheritance because we were their children. We did not lift a finger to help them acquire what they had in their possession. We did not deposit money into their savings account or work and give them any of our earnings. But everything was left to us when they passed. Everything!

Just as we inherited a name and an inheritance, which was everything my earthly parents owned, we have acquired a spiritual inheritance. When we accepted Jesus’ death on the cross for our salvation, we received His name, we gained salvation and an eternity with God, and a kingdom of provisions and ways that He wants us to discover, live out and use to influence the world around us. We are on a journey of discovery. It’s like spending the rest of our lives discovering His ways all around us. Like a spiritual treasure hunt where special nuggets of truth are just waiting to be uncovered, like a pearl of great price or a treasure hidden in the field. Matthew 13:44 says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” This man sold all that he had to buy that field. This is what I want me life to be…

Now to my last point and it’s one that I love… we have talked about the rapture, that whisking away of His church. Some believe pre-trib, some believe mid-trib, some believe post-trib. Everyone has an opinion to defend their point.

I’ve been thinking about Enoch referenced in Genesis 5:21-24. It says, “And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and became the father of Methuselah. Then Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he had other sons and daughters. So, all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

What this is saying is Enoch did not die…he walked so close with God that one day God just took him…I love this… (doesn’t this sound like a rapture? Enoch lived in the time before Noah and the world had really gotten bad with the Nephilim and such). Since people lived so long during those days it was only a couple of generations before Noah. The lineage was Enoch, Methuselah then Lamech. Lamech was Noah’s father.

Moses is another example. Deuteronomy 34:1-12 talks about Moses not entering the Promised Land. God told him ahead of time to prepare the people and prepare Joshua to take over as leader because Moses had disobeyed the Lord by striking the rock the second time when the Lord had said to “speak to the rock”. Moses relied on what had worked last time and didn’t obey the Lord the next time and just speak to it. Verse 5 and 6 says, “So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.”

Did you catch that? Verse 6 says He buried Him…that He was God.  Now, interestingly enough, Moses showed up along with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration (Mark 9:5). Elijah was another one who did not die but instead was taken up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11-12).

I’d like to throw out a thought; what if the rapture, when it happens, is God taking His bride..those who have overcome, those who have adjusted and made themselves ready, those who walk closely WITH God just like Enoch did, and God is finally like, “They have finally come into who they are. They have become like my son Jesus and have come into their inheritance.”  What if…  This is such a different mindset than the church hunkering down to be rescued.

This is a victorious church.  This is a bride who knows who she is and what the kingdom of heaven provides.  This is a people living out God’s intention to bring heaven to earth.  I want this!  This is what I’m pursuing. There is so much more for us, so much more to experience and learn.

One last verse before I close. Ephesians 5:1-2 says, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as beloved children and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

Be imitators of God. What does that mean?  What does that look like to you?  Here is what imitator means in the Greek:

Imitator: an imitator, follower from the root (a “mimic”) to imitate, follow.

We are to mimic God.  We are to imitate Him. Ask the Lord what this looks like for you. He has something in mind for each of us and I want to find out what His plan is for me as I walk with Him and grow ever closer to Him, I believe the day will come when He will say, “Come be with Me.” 

No more hunkering.  No more needing rescued. We can be victims or we can be victorious. I choose victorious. I am on a journey of discovery…who wants to join me?